Bulinus facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bulinus
A live individual of Bulinus wrighti
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Heterobranchia
Clade:	Euthyneura
Superorder:	Hygrophila
Family:	Planorbidae
Subfamily:	Bulininae
Tribe:	Bulinini
Genus:	Bulinus O. F. Müller, 1781
Diversity
37 extant species, at least 7 fossil species
Synonyms
Bulinus (Bulinus) O. F. Müller, 1781· accepted, alternate representation Bulinus (Isidora) Ehrenberg, 1831· accepted, alternate representation Bulinus (Physopsis) F. Krauss, 1848· accepted, alternate representation Bulinus (Pyrgophysa) Crosse, 1879· accepted, alternate representation Bullinus Oken, 1815 (an incorrect subsequent spelling of Bulinus) Isidora Ehrenberg, 1831 Isidora (Physopsis) F. Krauss, 1848 (superseded combination) Kosovia Atanacković, 1959 Kosovia (Kosovia) Atanacković, 1959 † (junior synonym) Limnaea (Bulinus) O.F. Müller, 1781 Physa (Isidora) Ehrenberg, 1831 Physa (Pyrgophysa) Crosse, 1879 Physopsis F. Krauss, 1848 Pulmobranchia Pelseneer, 1894 Pyrgophysa Crosse, 1879 (junior synonym)

Bulinus is a genus of small tropical freshwater snails, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Bulinidae, the ramshorn snails and their allies.

This genus is medically important because several species of Bulinus function as intermediate hosts for the schistosomiasis blood fluke.

Taxonomy

Miocene genus Kosovia was synonymized Bulinus in 2017.

Distribution

These snails are widespread in Africa including Madagascar and the Middle East.

This genus has not yet become established in the USA, but it is considered to represent a potentially serious threat as a pest, an invasive species which could negatively affect agriculture, natural ecosystems, human health or commerce. Therefore it has been suggested that this species be given top national quarantine significance in the USA.

Shell description

The shell of species in the genus Bulinus is sinistral. It has a very large body whorl and a small spire.

Species

Lateral view of a shell of Bulinus truncatus.

Species within the genus Bulinus have been placed into four species groups: the Bulinus africanus group, Bulinus forskalii group, Bulinus reticulatus group and the Bulinus truncatus/tropicus complex. For the most part, species have been classified on the basis of their morphology although, in recent decades, the study of ploidy, allozymes and DNA methods have all played an increasing role in species discrimination. Morphological characters, whilst adequate to allocate a specimen to a species group are sometimes unreliable when used to classify at higher resolution especially within the Bulinus africanus group.

There are 37 (or 38 species when the Bulinus mutandensis is recognized as a separate species) species within the genus Bulinus including:

Bulinus africanus group - 10 species

• Bulinus abyssinicus (Martens, 1866)
• Bulinus africanus (Krauss, 1848)
• Bulinus globosus (Morelet, 1866)
• Bulinus hightoni Brown & Wright, 1978
• Bulinus jousseaumei (Dautzenberg, 1890)
• Bulinus nasutus (Martens, 1879)
• Bulinus obtusispira (Smith, 1882)
• Bulinus obtusus Mandahl-Barth, 1973
• Bulinus ugandae Mandahl-Barth, 1954
• Bulinus umbilicatus Mandahl-Barth, 1973

Bulinus forskalii group - 11 species

• Bulinus barthi Jelnes, 1979
• Bulinus bavayi (Dautzenberg, 1894)
• Bulinus beccarii (Paladilhe, 1872)
• Bulinus browni Jelnes, 1979
• Bulinus camerunensis Mandahl-Barth, 1957
• Bulinus canescens (Morelet, 1868)
• Bulinus cernicus (Morelet, 1867)
• Bulinus crystallinus (Morelet, 1868)
• Bulinus forskalii (Ehrenberg, 1831)
• Bulinus scalaris (Dunker, 1845)
• Bulinus senegalensis Müller, 1781 - the type species of the genus

Bulinus reticulatus group - 2 species

• Bulinus reticulatus Mandahl-Barth, 1954
• Bulinus wrighti Mandahl-Barth, 1965

Bulinus truncatus/tropicus complex - 14-15 species

• Bulinus angolensis (Morelet, 1866)
• Bulinus depressus Haas, 1936
• Bulinus hexaploidus Burch, 1972
• Bulinus liratus (Tristram, 1863)
• Bulinus mutandensis Preston, 1913
• Bulinus natalensis (Küster, 1841)
• Bulinus nyassanus (E. A. Smith, 1877)
• Bulinus octoploidus Burch, 1972
• Bulinus permembranaceus (Preston, 1912)
• Bulinus succinoides (E. A. Smith, 1877)
• Bulinus transversalis (Martens, 1897)
• Bulinus trigonus (Martens, 1892)
• Bulinus tropicus (Krauss, 1848)
• Bulinus truncatus (Audouin, 1827)
• Bulinus yemenensis Paggi et al., 1978

other

• Bulinus rubellus Broderip 1832
• † Bulinus bouei (Pavlović, 1931) - from late Miocene
• † Bulinus corici Harzhauser & Neubauer in Harzhauser et al., 2012 - from middle Miocene
• † Bulinus matejici (Pavlović, 1931) - from middle Miocene
• † Bulinus ornatus (Pavlović, 1931) - from late Miocene
• † Bulinus pavlovici (Atanacković, 1959) - from late Miocene
• † Bulinus stevanovici (Atanacković, 1959) - late Miocene
• † Bulinus striatus (Milošević, 1978) - late Miocene