Viviparidae


Viviparidae, sometimes known as the river snails or mystery snails, are a family of large operculate freshwater snails, aquatic gastropod mollusks.
This family is classified in the informal group Architaenioglossa according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005.

Distribution

This family occurs nearly worldwide in temperate and tropical regions, with the exception that they are absent from South America.
There are two genera of Viviparidae in Africa: Bellamya and Neothauma.

Taxonomy

The family Viviparidae contains 3 subfamilies :
Genera within the family Viviparidae include:
subfamily Viviparinae Gray, 1847
subfamily Bellamyinae Rohrbach, 1937
subfamily Lioplacinae Gill, 1863
subfamily ?
;Genera brought into synonymy:
Life spans have been reported from 3 to 11 years in various species of Viviparidae.