Glossary of gastropod terms
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 baseAcephalous – Headless.Acinose – Full of small bulgings; resembling the kernel in a nut.Aculeate – Very sharply pointed, as the teeth on the radula of some snails.Acuminate – gradually tapering to a point, as the spire of some shells.Acute – Sharp or pointed, as the spire of a shell, or the lip of a shell.Adapical – toward the apex of a shell Admedian – Next to the central object, as the lateral teeth on the lingual membrane.Adpressed – with overlapping whorls or with a suture tightly pressed to the previous whorl Afferent – To bring in; when relating to a vessel or duct, indicating that it brings in its contents.Amoeboid – Shaped like an amoeba, a small animalcule.Amorphous – Without distinct form.Amphibious – Inhabiting both land and water.Amphidetic – With the ligament on both sides of the umbones.Anal canal – Tubular of gutter-like opening in the shell of a gastropod through which excrements are expelled Analogue – A likeness between two objects when otherwise they are totally different, as the wing of a bird and the wing of a butterfly.Anastomosing – Coming together.Annular – Made up of rings.Anterior – The front or fore end.Aquatic – Inhabiting the water.Arborescent – Branching like a tree.Arched – Bowed or bent in a curve.Arcti-spiral – Tightly coiled, as some spiral shells.Asphyxiating – Causing suspended animation; apparent death.Assimilation – Act of converting one substance into another, as the changing of food-stuffs into living bodies.Asymmetrical – Not symmetrical.AtriumAtrophied – Wasted away.Attenuate – Long and slender, as in some shells.Auditory – Connected with the hearing.Auricled – Eared, or with ear-like appendages.Basal – The bottom or lower part.Biangulate – With two angles.Bicuspid or bicuspidate – Having two cusps.Bifid – Having two arms or prongs.Bifurcated – Having two branches.Bilateral – With two sides.Bilobed – With two lobes.Blood sinus Bulbous – Swollen.Calcareous – Composed of carbonate of lime.Callosity – A hardened and raised bunch, as the callus on the columella of some shells.Callus – A deposit of shelly matter.Campanulate – Formed like a bell.Canaliculate – Resembling a canal, as the deep sutures in some shells.Cancellated – Formed of cross-bars, as the longitudinal and spiral lines which cross in some shells.Cardiac pouch – Containing the heart and placed near the umb'ones of the shell.Carinate – Keeled. With keel.Cartilaginous – Like cartilage.Caudal – Tail-like, or with a tail-like appendage.Cellular – Made up of cells.Cerebral – Pertaining to the brain.Channeled – Grooved or formed like a channel.Chitinous – Formed of chitin, as the radulas of gastropods.Ciliary – By means of cilia.Ciliated – Having cilia.Cilium – A lash; used to designate the hairs on the mantle, gills, etc.Clavate – Club-shaped.Coarctate – Pressed together, narrowed.Concave – Excavated, hollowed out.Conchiolin Conic – Shaped like a cone.Connective – A part connecting two other parts, as a muscle connecting two parts of the body, or a nerve connecting two ganglia.Constricted – Narrowed.Contractile – Capable of being contracted or drawn in, as the tentacle of a snail.Convex – Bulged out, as the whorls of some snails.Convoluted – Rolled together.Cordate – Heart-shaped.Corneous – Horn-like, as the opercula of some gastropods.Corrugated – Roughened by wrinkles.Costate – Having rib-like ridges.Crenulate – Wrinkled on the edges.Crescentic – Like a crescent.Cylindrical – Like a cylinder.Decollated – Cut off, as the apex of some shells.Decussated – With spiral and longitudinal lines intersecting, as the sculpture of some shells.Deflexed – Bent downward, as the last whorl in some snails.Dentate – With points or nodules resembling teeth, as the aperture of some snails.Denticulate – Finely dentate.Depressed – Flattened, as the spire in some snails.Dextral – Right-handed.Digitiform – Finger-like.Dilated – Expanded in all directions, as the aperture of a shell.Dimorphism – With two forms or conditions.Dioecious – Having the sexes in two individuals, one male and one female.Distal – The farthest part from an object.Discoidal – Shaped like a flat disk.Diverticulum – A pouch or hole, as the pouch containing the radula, or that containing the dart in helices.Dormant – In a state of torpor or sleep.Dorsal – The back. In gastropods the opposite to the aperture.Ectocone – The outer cusp on the teeth of the radula.Edentulous – Without teeth or folds, as the aperture in some gastropods.Efferent – Carrying out.Elliptical – With an oval form.Elongated – Drawn out, as the spire of a shell.Emarginate – Bluntly notched.Encysted – Enclosed in a cyst.Entocone – The inner cusp on the teeth of the radula.Entire – With even, unbroken edges, as the aperture of some shells.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.Epithelium – All tissues bounding a free surface.Equidistant – Equally spaced, as the spiral lines on some snail shells.Equilibrating – Balancing equally.Eroded – Worn away, as the epidermis on some shells.Erosive – Capable of erosion.Excavated – Hollowed out, as the columella of some snails.Excurrent – Referring to the siphon which carries out the waste matter of the body.Exoskeleton – The outer skeleton; all shells are exoskeletons.Exserted – Brought out.Expanded – Spread out, as the lip of some shells.Falcate – Scythe-shaped.Fasciculus – A little bundle.Flagellate – Animals with a flagellum or lash.Flexuous – Formed in a series of curves or turnings, as the columella in some shells.Flocculent – Clinging together in bunches.Fluviatile – Living in running streams.Fusiform – Thick in the middle and tapering at each end.Gelatinous – Like jelly, as the eggs of some mollusks.Gibbous – Very much rounded, as the whorls in some snails.Glandular – Like a gland.Globose – Rounded.Granulated – Covered with little grains.Gravid – A female mollusk with ovaries distended with young.Gregarious – Living in colonies.Gular – Relating to the windpipe or palate. In mollusks, referring to the innermost part of the aperture.Habitat – Locality of a species.Hasmolymph – Molluscan blood.Heliciform – In form like Helix.Hemispherical – Half a sphere.Herbivorous – Subsisting upon vegetable food.Hermaphrodite – Having the sexes united in the same individual.Hibernation – The act of hibernating or going to sleep for the winter months.Hirsute – Covered with hairs, as some snails.Hispid – Same as hirsute.Homologous – Having the same position or value, as the wing of a bird and of a bat.Hyaline – Glassy.Imperforate – Not perforated or umbilicated.Impressed – Marked by a furrow, as the impressed spiral lines on some gastropod shells.Incrassate – Thickened.Incurved – Leaned or bent over, as the apex in some snails.Indented – Notched.Inflected – Turned in, as the teeth of some snails.Inhalent – Same as incurrent.Inoperculate – Without an operculum.Intercostate – Between the ribs or ridges.Invaginate – One part bending into another, as the tentacles of some land snails.Invertible – Capable of being inverted, or drawn in, as the eye-peduncles of a land snail.Juvenile Keeled – With a more or less sharp projection at the periphery.Lamellated – Covered with scales.Lamelliform – Having the form of scales.Laminated – Consisting of plates or scales laid over each other.Lanceolate – Gradually tapering to a point.Lateral – Pertaining to the side.Latticed – Lobulate – Composed of lobes.Longitudinal – The length of a shell.Lunate – Shaped like a half moon, as the aperture in some shells.Malleated – Appearing as though hammered.Manducatory – Relating to the apparatus for masticating food. In snails, the jaws and radula.Median – Middle, as the middle tooth on the radula.Mesocene – The middle cusp on the teeth of the radula.Monoecius – Having the sexes united in the same individual.Multifid – Made up of many lobes or projections, as the cusps on some radulae.Multispiral – Consisting of many whorls, as some fresh-water snails.Nacreous – Pearly or iridescent.Nepionic – The second stage of the embryonic shell, as the glochidium.Notched – Nicked or indented, as the anterior canal of some gastropods.Nucleus – The first part or beginning, as the apex in a gastropod shell.Nucleated – Having a nucleus.Obconic – In the form of a reversed cone.Oblique – Slanting, as the aperture of some shells when not parallel to the longitudinal axis.Obovate – Reversed ovate, as some shells when the diameter is greater near the upper than at the lower part.Obtuse – Dull or blunt, as the apex of some gastropods.Olfactory – Pertaining to the smell.Olivaceous – Colored like an olive.Organism – An organized being, or living object made up of organs.Ovate – Egg-shaped.Ovately conic – Shaped like an egg, but with a somewhat conic apex, as some gastropods.Oviparous – Bringing forth young in an egg which is hatched after it is laid.Ovisac – A pouch in which the eggs or embryos are contained.Ovoviviparous – In this case the young are formed in an egg but are hatched inside the parent.Pallial lung Papillose – Covered with many little bulgings or pimples.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.Patelliform – Shaped like a flattened-out cone, as an Ancylus.Patulous – Open and spreading, as the aperture in some gastropods.Paucispiral – Only slightly spiral, as some opercula.Pectinate – Like the teeth of a comb, as the gills of some mollusks.Pedal – Pertaining to the foot.Pedunculated – Supported on a stem or stalk, as the eyes of land snails.Pellucid – Transparent or clear, as the shells of some snails; e. g. Vitrea.Penultimate – The whorl before the last in gastropod shells.Pericardium – The chamber containing the heart.Periostracum – The epidermal covering of some shells.Pervious – Very narrowly open, as the umbilicus in some snails.Phytophagus – Vegetable-feeding.Pilose – Covered with hairs.Pinnate – Branched like a feather, as the gills of some mollusks.Plaited – Folded.Planispiral shell Planorboid – Flat and orb-like, as some snails.Pleurae – Relating to the side of a body.Plexus – A network of vessels, as the form of the lungs in snails.Plicated – Made up of folds.Plumose – Resembling plumes.Polygonal – Having many angles.Porcellanous – Like porcelain.Prismatic – Like a prism.Prodissoconch – The embryonic shell.Protoconch – The embryonic shell.Protract – To push out.Protractor pedis – The foot protractor muscle.Protrusile – Capable of being pushed out.Proximal – The nearest end of an object.Pulsation – A throb, as the throbbing of the heart.Pupiform – Like a pupa; one of the stages in the development of an insect.Pustulate – Covered with pustules or little pimples.Pustulose – Same as pustulate.Pyramidal – Having the form of a pyramid.Pyriform – Shaped like a pear.Reflected – Bent backward, as the lip in some snails.Reflexed – Same as Reflected.Renal – Relating to the kidneys.Reticulated – Resembling a network, as when the longitudinal and spiral lines cross in a snail.Retractile – Capable of being drawn in, as the eye peduncles in land snails.Retractor pedis – Foot retractor muscle.Revolving lines – Spiral lines on a snail shell which run parallel with the sutures.Rhombic – Having four sides, the angles being oblique.Rhomboid – Four-sided, but two of the sides being longer than the others.Rimate – Provided with a very small hole or crack, as some snails in which the umbilicus is very narrowly open.Roundly lunate – Rounder than lunate.Rostriform – In the form of a rostrum.Rudimentary – Not fully formed; imperfect.Rugose – Rough or wrinkled, as parts of some shells.Sacculated – Somewhat like a sac, or composed of sac-like parts.Scalar – Resembling a ladder.Secreted – Produced or deposited from the blood or glands, as the shell material in mollusks.Semicircular – Half round or circular, as the aperture in some snails.Semidentate – Half toothed, as the parietal wall in some land snails.Semielliptic – Half elliptical.Semiglobose – Half, or not quite globose.Semilunate – Half lunate.Semioval – Half, or not quite oval.Serrated – Notched, like the teeth on a saw.Serriform – In the form of series.Sessile – Attached without a stem, as the eyes in some water snails.Shouldered – Ridged, as the whorls in some snails.Sigmoid – Shaped like the letter S.Siliceous – Made up of silex.Sinistral – Having the aperture on the left side.Sinusigerid – with a diagonally cancellate Sinuous – Curved in and out, as the edge of some bivalves and the lips of some snails.Siphonal canal – semi-tubular extension of the aperture of the shell through which the siphon is extended when the animal is activeSpatulate – In the form of a spatula, a flat-bladed instrument used by druggists in pulverizing drugs.Spherical – Shaped like a sphere.Spiral – Wound about a central cavity, as the whorls of snails.Striated – Marked by lines or striae.Subangulated – Moderately angled.Subcarinated – Moderately carinated.Subcentral – Not quite in the center.Subcircular – Not quite circular.Subconical – Moderately conical.Subcylindrical – Moderately cylindrical.Subequal – Not quite equal.Subexcavated – A little excavated.Subfusiform – Moderately fusiform.Subglobose – Moderately globose.Subglobular – Moderately globular.Subhyaline – Moderately glassy.Subimperforate – Not much perforated.Suboblong – Moderately oblong.Subobsolete – Almost disappearing.Subovate – Nearly ovate.Subparallel – Almost parallel.Subperforated – Almost perforated.Subquadrate – Almost four-sided.Subreflected – Moderately turned back.Subrotund – Moderately round.Subspiral – Moderately spiral.Subtriangulate – Moderately or almost triangular.Subtrigonal – Moderately three-angled.Subtruncate – Moderately cut off.Subumbilicated – Moderately umbilicated.Sulcated – Grooved.Sulcus – A longitudinal furrow.Superanal – Above the anus.Supra-peripheral – Above the periphery.Symmetrical – Alike on both sides or uniform in all parts.Terrestrial – Living on the land.Testaceous – Composed of shelly matter.Torsion – A twisting around.Tortuous – Twisted or winding.Torpid – Half unconscious or asleep, as a snail during hibernation.Translucent – Not quite transparent; light is seen through the thin edges of the object.Transparent – Objects may be seen through the substance.Transverse – Referring to the form of a shell when it is wider than high.Tricuspidate – Having three cusps.Trifid – Having three branches.Trigonal – Having three angles.Trilobate – Having three lobes.Tripartite – Divided into three parts, as the foot of some snails.Truncate – Having the end cut off squarely.Tuberculate – Covered with tubercles or rounded knobs.Turbinate – Having the form of a top.Turriculated – Having the form of a tower.Turreted – Having the form of a tower.Umbilicated – Having an opening in the base of the shell.Undulated – Having undulations or waves.Univalve – Having the shell composed of a single piece, as a snail.Varicose – Swollen or enlarged.Vascular – Containing or made up of blood vessels.Vermiform – Formed like a worm.Ventral – The lower border or side.Ventricose – Swollen or inflated on the ventral side.Vibratile – Moving from side to side.Vitreous – Resembling glass, as some snails.