Gyraulus


Gyraulus is a genus of small, mostly air-breathing, freshwater snails, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Planorbidae, the ram's horn snails.
The genus Gyraulus is known from the Early Cretaceous to the present. Fossils attributed to Gyraulus sp. have been found in the lakebottom sediments of the Yixian Formation in China, dating to 125 million years ago.

Description

Shells of the species within this genus are small, and are mostly almost planispiral in their coiling.

Distribution and habitat

The distribution of this genus is Holarctic. These snail snails live on water plants in freshwater.

Species

The following species are recognised in the genus Gyraulus: