Allogona profunda (Say)
Broad-banded Forestsnail
Classification
Here
is the formal classification of the terrestrial snail,
Allogona profunda (Say):
Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animal
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Order: Pulmonata
Suborder: Stylommatophora
Family: Polygyridae
Genus: Allogona
Species: Allogona profunda
Allogona profunda (Say) is the scientific name for this particular land snail. The scientific name consists of the genus and species name followed by the name of authority in parentheses. The name of the authority is (Say) because Thomas Say, who was an early American conchologist, was the first to name and describe this particular species of land snail (Leonard, 1959). His first instinct was to place this snail in the genus Helix, until students investigated this snail and decided that Helix profunda actually belonged in the genus Allogona (Leonard, 1959). These changes are the results of attempts to group similar animals together. It is the procedure of zoologists to place the name of the authority for a species in parentheses if the currently accepted genus name is different from the original genus name it was placed in (Leonard, 1959).
The genus, Allogona, unites a group of snails based on common characteristics and features shared with one another. The snails of this genus share similarities to each other such as, all the shells of this genus are umbilicate containing a reflective white peristome, and a single low blunt tooth is common among all of them (Leonard, 1959). These snails also have common features that are found within their soft anatomy (Leonard, 1959).
This particular land snail belongs to the family, Polygyridae, and members of this family tend to share similar anatomical and physiological attributes. All polygyrids have a common shape to their shells, which is described as lense-shaped to globose-shaped (Leonard, 1959).
This snail is placed in the larger order, Pulmonata, that includes all species of snails in which a chamber of the mantle cavity serves as a lung (Leonard, 1959).
Allogona profunda (Say) is a member of the class Gastropoda. Gastropoda forms a class with which all members have a common feature for locomotion, a broad creeping foot (Leonard, 1959). Also, they have a mantle which secrets a shell. These snails also normally appear to have a single spiraled shell (Leonard,1959). These common features of this class are shared with four other classes, which unite all these classes into the phylum Mollusca (Leonard, 1959).
In order to distinguish these animals, snails, from plants, Allogona profunda (Say) is placed in the Animal Kingdom (Leonard, 1959). Learn more on the next page about the meaning of the scientific name of this forestsnail, Allogona profunda (Say).