Glossary of gastropod terms information

The following is a glossary of common English language and scientific terms used in the description of gastropods.

• Abapical – away from the apex of a shell toward the base

• Acephalous – Headless.^[1]

• Acinose – Full of small bulgings; resembling the kernel in a nut.^[1]

• Aculeate – Very sharply pointed, as the teeth on the radula of some snails.^[1]

• Acuminate – gradually tapering to a point, as the spire of some shells.^[1]

• Acute – Sharp or pointed, as the spire of a shell, or the lip of a shell.^[1]

• Adapical – toward the apex of a shell (<--> abapical)

• Admedian – Next to the central object, as the lateral teeth on the lingual membrane.^[1]

• Adpressed – with overlapping whorls or with a suture tightly pressed to the previous whorl (preferred to the term appressed)

• Afferent – To bring in; when relating to a vessel or duct, indicating that it brings in its contents.^[1]

• Amoeboid – Shaped like an amoeba, a small animalcule.^[1]

• Amorphous – Without distinct form.^[1]

• Amphibious – Inhabiting both land and water.^[1]

• Amphidetic – With the ligament on both sides of the umbones.^[1]

• Anal canal – Tubular of gutter-like opening in the shell of a gastropod through which excrements are expelled (see also: siphonal canal)

• Analogue – A likeness between two objects when otherwise they are totally different, as the wing of a bird and the wing of a butterfly.^[1]

• Anastomosing – Coming together.^[1]

• Annular – Made up of rings.^[1]

• Anterior – The front or fore end.^[1]

• Aquatic – Inhabiting the water.^[1]

• Arborescent – Branching like a tree.^[1]

• Arched – Bowed or bent in a curve.^[1]

• Arcti-spiral – Tightly coiled, as some spiral shells.^[1]

• Asphyxiating – Causing suspended animation; apparent death.^[1]

• Assimilation – Act of converting one substance into another, as the changing of food-stuffs into living bodies.^[1]

• Asymmetrical – Not symmetrical.^[1]

• Atrium

• Atrophied – Wasted away.^[1]

• Attenuate – Long and slender, as in some shells.^[1]

• Auditory – Connected with the hearing.^[1]

• Auricled – Eared, or with ear-like appendages.^[1]

• Basal – The bottom or lower part.^[1]

• Biangulate – With two angles.^[1]

• Bicuspid or bicuspidate – Having two cusps.^[1]

• Bifid – Having two arms or prongs.^[1]

• Bifurcated – Having two branches.^[1]

• Bilateral – With two sides.^[1]

• Bilobed – With two lobes.^[1]

• Blood sinus

• Bulbous – Swollen.^[1]

• Calcareous – Composed of carbonate of lime.^[1]

• Callosity – A hardened and raised bunch, as the callus on the columella of some shells.^[1]

• Callus – A deposit of shelly matter.^[1]

• Campanulate – Formed like a bell.^[1]

• Canaliculate – Resembling a canal, as the deep sutures in some shells.^[1]

• Cancellated – Formed of cross-bars, as the longitudinal and spiral lines which cross in some shells.^[1]

• Cardiac pouch – Containing the heart and placed near the umb'ones of the shell.^[1]

• Carinate – Keeled.^[1] With keel.

• Cartilaginous – Like cartilage.^[1]

• Caudal – Tail-like, or with a tail-like appendage.^[1]

• Cellular – Made up of cells.^[1]

• Cerebral – Pertaining to the brain.^[1]

• Channeled – Grooved or formed like a channel.^[1]

• Chitinous – Formed of chitin, as the radulas of gastropods.^[1]

• Ciliary – By means of cilia.^[1]

• Ciliated – Having cilia.^[1]

• Cilium (plural cilia) – A lash; used to designate the hairs on the mantle, gills, etc.^[1]

• Clavate – Club-shaped.^[1]

• Coarctate – Pressed together, narrowed.^[1]

• Concave – Excavated, hollowed out.^[1]

• Conchiolin

• Conic – Shaped like a cone.^[1]

• Connective – A part connecting two other parts, as a muscle connecting two parts of the body, or a nerve connecting two ganglia.^[1]

• Constricted – Narrowed.^[1]

• Contractile – Capable of being contracted or drawn in, as the tentacle of a snail.^[1]

• Convex – Bulged out, as the whorls of some snails.^[1]

• Convoluted – Rolled together.^[1]

• Cordate – Heart-shaped.^[1]

• Corneous – Horn-like, as the opercula of some gastropods.^[1]

• Corrugated – Roughened by wrinkles.^[1]

• Costate – Having rib-like ridges.^[1]

• Crenulate – Wrinkled on the edges.^[1]

• Crescentic – Like a crescent.^[1]

• Cylindrical – Like a cylinder.^[1]

• Decollated – Cut off, as the apex of some shells.^[1]

• Decussated – With spiral and longitudinal lines intersecting, as the sculpture of some shells.^[1]

• Deflexed – Bent downward, as the last whorl in some snails.^[1]

• Dentate – With points or nodules resembling teeth, as the aperture of some snails.^[1]

• Denticulate – Finely dentate.^[1]

• Depressed – Flattened, as the spire in some snails.^[1]

• Dextral – Right-handed.^[1]

• Digitiform – Finger-like.^[1]

• Dilated – Expanded in all directions, as the aperture of a shell.^[1]

• Dimorphism – With two forms or conditions.^[1]

• Dioecious – Having the sexes in two individuals, one male and one female.^[1]

• Distal – The farthest part from an object.^[1]

• Discoidal – Shaped like a flat disk.^[1]

• Diverticulum – A pouch or hole, as the pouch containing the radula, or that containing the dart in helices.^[1]

• Dormant – In a state of torpor or sleep.^[1]

• Dorsal – The back. In gastropods the opposite to the aperture.^[1]

• Ectocone – The outer cusp on the teeth of the radula.^[1]

• Edentulous – Without teeth or folds, as the aperture in some gastropods.^[1]

• Efferent – Carrying out.^[1]

• Elliptical – With an oval form.^[1]

• Elongated – Drawn out, as the spire of a shell.^[1]

• Emarginate – Bluntly notched.^[1]

• Encysted – Enclosed in a cyst.^[1]

• Entocone – The inner cusp on the teeth of the radula.^[1]

• Entire – With even, unbroken edges, as the aperture of some shells.^[1]

• Epiphallus – A portion of the vas deferens which becomes modified into a tube-like organ and is continued beyond the apex of the penis; it frequently bears a blind duct, or flagellum.^[1]

• Epithelium – All tissues bounding a free surface.^[1]

• Equidistant – Equally spaced, as the spiral lines on some snail shells.^[1]

• Equilibrating – Balancing equally.^[1]

• Eroded – Worn away, as the epidermis on some shells.^[1]

• Erosive – Capable of erosion.^[1]

• Excavated – Hollowed out, as the columella of some snails.^[1]

• Excurrent – Referring to the siphon which carries out the waste matter of the body.^[1]

• Exoskeleton – The outer skeleton; all shells are exoskeletons.^[1]

• Exserted – Brought out.^[1]

• Expanded – Spread out, as the lip of some shells.^[1]

• Falcate – Scythe-shaped.^[1]

• Fasciculus – A little bundle.^[1]

• Flagellate – Animals with a flagellum or lash.^[1]

• Flexuous – Formed in a series of curves or turnings, as the columella in some shells.^[1]

• Flocculent – Clinging together in bunches.^[1]

• Fluviatile – Living in running streams.^[1]

• Fusiform – Thick in the middle and tapering at each end.^[1]

• Gelatinous – Like jelly, as the eggs of some mollusks.^[1]

• Gibbous – Very much rounded, as the whorls in some snails.^[1]

• Glandular – Like a gland.^[1]

• Globose – Rounded.^[1]

• Granulated – Covered with little grains.^[1]

• Gravid – A female mollusk with ovaries distended with young.^[1]

• Gregarious – Living in colonies.^[1]

• Gular – Relating to the windpipe or palate. In mollusks, referring to the innermost part of the aperture.^[1]

• Habitat – Locality of a species.^[1]

• Hasmolymph – Molluscan blood.^[1]

• Heliciform – In form like Helix.^[1]

• Hemispherical – Half a sphere.^[1]

• Herbivorous – Subsisting upon vegetable food.^[1]

• Hermaphrodite – Having the sexes united in the same individual.^[1]

• Hibernation – The act of hibernating or going to sleep for the winter months.^[1]

• Hirsute – Covered with hairs, as some snails.^[1]

• Hispid – Same as hirsute.^[1]

• Homologous – Having the same position or value, as the wing of a bird and of a bat.^[1]

• Hyaline – Glassy.^[1]

• Imperforate – Not perforated or umbilicated.^[1]

• Impressed – Marked by a furrow, as the impressed spiral lines on some gastropod shells.^[1]

• Incrassate – Thickened.^[1]

• Incurved – Leaned or bent over, as the apex in some snails.^[1]

• Indented – Notched.^[1]

• Inflected – Turned in, as the teeth of some snails.^[1]

• Inhalent – Same as incurrent.^[1]

• Inoperculate – Without an operculum.^[1]

• Intercostate – Between the ribs or ridges.^[1]

• Invaginate – One part bending into another, as the tentacles of some land snails.^[1]

• Invertible – Capable of being inverted, or drawn in, as the eye-peduncles of a land snail.^[1]

• Juvenile

• Keeled – With a more or less sharp projection at the periphery.^[1]

• Lamellated – Covered with scales.^[1]

• Lamelliform – Having the form of scales.^[1]

• Laminated – Consisting of plates or scales laid over each other.^[1]

• Lanceolate – Gradually tapering to a point.^[1]

• Lateral – Pertaining to the side.^[1]

• Latticed – (See decussated.)^[1]

• Lobulate – Composed of lobes.^[1]

• Longitudinal – The length of a shell.^[1]

• Lunate – Shaped like a half moon, as the aperture in some shells.^[1]

• Malleated – Appearing as though hammered.^[1]

• Manducatory – Relating to the apparatus for masticating food. In snails, the jaws and radula.^[1]

• Median – Middle, as the middle tooth on the radula.^[1]

• Mesocene – The middle cusp on the teeth of the radula.^[1]

• Monoecius – Having the sexes united in the same individual.^[1]

• Multifid – Made up of many lobes or projections, as the cusps on some radulae.^[1]

• Multispiral – Consisting of many whorls, as some fresh-water snails.^[1]

• Nacreous – Pearly or iridescent.^[1]

• Nepionic – The second stage of the embryonic shell, as the glochidium.^[1]

• Notched – Nicked or indented, as the anterior canal of some gastropods.^[1]

• Nucleus – The first part or beginning, as the apex in a gastropod shell.^[1]

• Nucleated – Having a nucleus.^[1]

• Obconic – In the form of a reversed cone.^[1]

• Oblique – Slanting, as the aperture of some shells when not parallel to the longitudinal axis.^[1]

• Obovate – Reversed ovate, as some shells when the diameter is greater near the upper than at the lower part.^[1]

• Obtuse – Dull or blunt, as the apex of some gastropods.^[1]

• Olfactory – Pertaining to the smell.^[1]

• Olivaceous – Colored like an olive.^[1]

• Organism – An organized being, or living object made up of organs.^[1]

• Ovate – Egg-shaped.^[1]

• Ovately conic – Shaped like an egg, but with a somewhat conic apex, as some gastropods.^[1]

• Oviparous – Bringing forth young in an egg which is hatched after it is laid.^[1]

• Ovisac – A pouch in which the eggs or embryos are contained.^[1]

• Ovoviviparous – In this case the young are formed in an egg but are hatched inside the parent.^[1]

• Pallial lung

• Papillose – Covered with many little bulgings or pimples.^[1]

• Parallel – Having the same relative distance in all parts, as when the spiral lines in univalve shells are the same distance apart all the way around.^[1]

• Patelliform – Shaped like a flattened-out cone, as an Ancylus.^[1]

• Patulous – Open and spreading, as the aperture in some gastropods.^[1]

• Paucispiral – Only slightly spiral, as some opercula.^[1]

• Pectinate – Like the teeth of a comb, as the gills of some mollusks.^[1]

• Pedal – Pertaining to the foot.^[1]

• Pedunculated – Supported on a stem or stalk, as the eyes of land snails.^[1]

• Pellucid – Transparent or clear, as the shells of some snails; e. g. Vitrea.^[1]

• Penultimate – The whorl before the last in gastropod shells.^[1]

• Pericardium – The chamber containing the heart.^[1]

• Periostracum – The epidermal covering of some shells.^[1]

• Pervious – Very narrowly open, as the umbilicus in some snails.^[1]

• Phytophagus – Vegetable-feeding.^[1]

• Pilose – Covered with hairs.^[1]

• Pinnate – Branched like a feather, as the gills of some mollusks.^[1]

• Plaited – Folded.^[1]

• Planispiral shell

• Planorboid – Flat and orb-like, as some snails.^[1]

• Pleurae – Relating to the side of a body.^[1]

• Plexus – A network of vessels, as the form of the lungs in snails.^[1]

• Plicated – Made up of folds.^[1]

• Plumose – Resembling plumes.^[1]

• Polygonal – Having many angles.^[1]

• Porcellanous – Like porcelain.^[1]

• Prismatic – Like a prism.^[1]

• Prodissoconch – The embryonic shell.^[1]

• Protoconch – The embryonic shell.^[1]

• Protract – To push out.^[1]

• Protractor pedis – The foot protractor muscle.^[1]

• Protrusile – Capable of being pushed out.^[1]

• Proximal – The nearest end of an object.^[1]

• Pulsation – A throb, as the throbbing of the heart.^[1]

• Pupiform – Like a pupa; one of the stages in the development of an insect.^[1]

• Pustulate – Covered with pustules or little pimples.^[1]

• Pustulose – Same as pustulate.^[1]

• Pyramidal – Having the form of a pyramid.^[1]

• Pyriform – Shaped like a pear.^[1]

• Reflected – Bent backward, as the lip in some snails.^[1]

• Reflexed – Same as Reflected.^[1]

• Renal – Relating to the kidneys.^[1]

• Reticulated – Resembling a network, as when the longitudinal and spiral lines cross in a snail.^[1]

• Retractile – Capable of being drawn in, as the eye peduncles in land snails.^[1]

• Retractor pedis – Foot retractor muscle.^[1]

• Revolving lines – Spiral lines on a snail shell which run parallel with the sutures.^[1]

• Rhombic – Having four sides, the angles being oblique.^[1]

• Rhomboid – Four-sided, but two of the sides being longer than the others.^[1]

• Rimate – Provided with a very small hole or crack, as some snails in which the umbilicus is very narrowly open.^[1]

• Roundly lunate – Rounder than lunate (which see).^[1]

• Rostriform – In the form of a rostrum.^[1]

• Rudimentary – Not fully formed; imperfect.^[1]

• Rugose – Rough or wrinkled, as parts of some shells.^[1]

• Sacculated – Somewhat like a sac, or composed of sac-like parts.^[1]

• Scalar – Resembling a ladder.^[1]

• Secreted – Produced or deposited from the blood or glands, as the shell material in mollusks.^[1]

• Semicircular – Half round or circular, as the aperture in some snails.^[1]

• Semidentate – Half toothed, as the parietal wall in some land snails.^[1]

• Semielliptic – Half elliptical.^[1]

• Semiglobose – Half, or not quite globose.^[1]

• Semilunate – Half lunate.^[1]

• Semioval – Half, or not quite oval.^[1]

• Serrated – Notched, like the teeth on a saw.^[1]

• Serriform – In the form of series.^[1]

• Sessile – Attached without a stem, as the eyes in some water snails.^[1]

• Shouldered – Ridged, as the whorls in some snails.^[1]

• Sigmoid – Shaped like the letter S.^[1]

• Siliceous – Made up of silex.^[1]

• Sinistral – Having the aperture on the left side.^[1]

• Sinusigerid – with a diagonally cancellate (structure)

• Sinuous – Curved in and out, as the edge of some bivalves and the lips of some snails.^[1]

• Siphonal canal – semi-tubular extension of the aperture of the shell through which the siphon is extended when the animal is active

• Spatulate – In the form of a spatula, a flat-bladed instrument used by druggists in pulverizing drugs.^[1]

• Spherical – Shaped like a sphere.^[1]

• Spiral – Wound about a central cavity, as the whorls of snails.^[1]

• Striated – Marked by lines or striae.^[1]

• Subangulated – Moderately angled.^[1]

• Subcarinated – Moderately carinated.^[1]

• Subcentral – Not quite in the center.^[1]

• Subcircular – Not quite circular.^[1]

• Subconical – Moderately conical.^[1]

• Subcylindrical – Moderately cylindrical.^[1]

• Subequal – Not quite equal.^[1]

• Subexcavated – A little excavated.^[1]

• Subfusiform – Moderately fusiform.^[1]

• Subglobose – Moderately globose.^[1]

• Subglobular – Moderately globular.^[1]

• Subhyaline – Moderately glassy.^[1]

• Subimperforate – Not much perforated.^[1]

• Suboblong – Moderately oblong.^[1]

• Subobsolete – Almost disappearing.^[1]

• Subovate – Nearly ovate.^[1]

• Subparallel – Almost parallel.^[1]

• Subperforated – Almost perforated.^[1]

• Subquadrate – Almost four-sided.^[1]

• Subreflected – Moderately turned back.^[1]

• Subrotund – Moderately round.^[1]

• Subspiral – Moderately spiral.^[1]

• Subtriangulate – Moderately or almost triangular.^[1]

• Subtrigonal – Moderately three-angled.^[1]

• Subtruncate – Moderately cut off.^[1]

• Subumbilicated – Moderately umbilicated.^[1]

• Sulcated – Grooved.^[1]

• Sulcus – A longitudinal furrow.^[1]

• Superanal – Above the anus.^[1]

• Supra-peripheral – Above the periphery.^[1]

• Symmetrical – Alike on both sides or uniform in all parts.^[1]

• Terrestrial – Living on the land.^[1]

• Testaceous – Composed of shelly matter.^[1]

• Torsion – A twisting around.^[1]

• Tortuous – Twisted or winding.^[1]

• Torpid – Half unconscious or asleep, as a snail during hibernation.^[1]

• Translucent – Not quite transparent; light is seen through the thin edges of the object.^[1]

• Transparent – Objects may be seen through the substance.^[1]

• Transverse – Referring to the form of a shell when it is wider than high.^[1]

• Tricuspidate – Having three cusps.^[1]

• Trifid – Having three branches.^[1]

• Trigonal – Having three angles.^[1]

• Trilobate – Having three lobes.^[1]

• Tripartite – Divided into three parts, as the foot of some snails.^[1]

• Truncate – Having the end cut off squarely.^[1]

• Tuberculate – Covered with tubercles or rounded knobs.^[1]

• Turbinate – Having the form of a top.^[1]

• Turriculated – Having the form of a tower.^[1]

• Turreted – Having the form of a tower.^[1]

• Umbilicated – Having an opening in the base of the shell.^[1]

• Undulated – Having undulations or waves.^[1]

• Univalve – Having the shell composed of a single piece, as a snail.^[1]

• Varicose – Swollen or enlarged.^[1]

• Vascular – Containing or made up of blood vessels.^[1]

• Vermiform – Formed like a worm.^[1]

• Ventral – The lower border or side.^[1]

• Ventricose – Swollen or inflated on the ventral side.^[1]

• Vibratile – Moving from side to side.^[1]

• Vitreous – Resembling glass, as some snails.^[1]