pulmonate

gastropod
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Share
Share to social media
URL
https://mainten.top/animal/pulmonate
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites
Also known as: Pulmonata

pulmonate, (subclass Pulmonata), any of various land, freshwater, and marine snails belonging to the class Gastropoda (phylum Mollusca) that have lost their ancestral gills and breathe instead by means of a “lung”—a highly vascularized saclike modification of the mantle cavity. Some snails lack an external shell, but most pulmonates have a spiral shell that may be attenuated or flattened. They are anatomically more advanced than other snails: all are detorted (bilaterally symmetrical, with an unlooped nerve cord) as adults, and the auricle of the heart is anterior to the ventricle. All are hermaphroditic—i.e., with both male and female reproductive organs in one animal. In addition, pulmonates are used in the delicacy escargot.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.