Gastropoda
Snails and slugs, limpets and sea hares
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# of Described Species: 62,000 First Appearance: Early Cambrian Habitats: Everywhere on Earth! Shapes: Everything you can think of! Feeding Types: They'll eat it all |
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# of Described Species: 62,000 First Appearance: Early Cambrian Habitats: Everywhere on Earth! Shapes: Everything you can think of! Feeding Types: They'll eat it all |
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Gastropods are one of the most diverse groups of animals, both in form, habit and habitat.
They are by far the largest group of molluscs, with more than 62,000 described living species,
and they comprise about 80% of living molluscs. Estimates of total extant species range from
40,000 to over 100,000, but there may be as many as 150,000 species! There are about about 13,000 named genera for
both Recent and fossil gastropods. They have a long and rich fossil record from the Early
Cambrian that shows periodic extinctions of subclades, followed by diversification of new
groups.
Gastropods have figured prominently in paleobiological and biological studies, and have served as study organisms in numerous evolutionary, biomechanical, ecological, physiological, and behavioral investigations. |
They are extremely diverse in size, body and shell morphology and habits and occupy the widest range of ecological niches of all molluscs, being the only group to have invaded the land. Gastropod feeding habits are extremely varied, although most species make use of a radula in some aspect of their feeding behavior. They include grazers, browsers, suspension feeders, scavengers, detritivores and carnivores. Carnivory in some taxa may simply involve grazing on colonial animals, while others engage in hunting their prey. Some gastropod carnivores drill holes in their shelled prey, this method of entry having being acquired independently in several groups, as is also the case with carnivory itself. Some gastropods feed suctorially and have lost the radula. |
