For a professional, the answer to the question of who the snail is - an insect or not, is obvious. But wildlife lovers who do not have a specialized education are sometimes confused, trying to determine the species affiliation of these beautiful creatures that are found everywhere. Some people find it difficult to answer whether the snails are animals. Our article will help end the mess.
Place in modern classification
Can a snail be attributed to insects or not? Or is it a reptile or amphibian? The answer will tell any biology reference. According to modern classification, snails are gastropods and nothing else, that is, they belong neither to insects, nor to reptiles, nor to amphibians. But animals, like representatives of the listed types, they are still.
Gastropods are a class belonging to the type of Mollusks. He is very numerous, and his representatives have a number of characteristic features.
Signs of a gastropod
First, note that all mollusks are invertebrate multicellular organisms.
Torsia is the main distinguishing feature of all snails. Scientists call this term twisting of an internal cavity on 180 about . For the vast majority of gastropods, a spiral feature is also a characteristic feature. There is a special form - slugs that are not snails. Their shell disappeared during evolution.
Another characteristic of all gastropods (gastropods) is the asymmetric structure of the body and internal organs. These creatures move with the help of a leg, which is covered with mucus for better gliding and protection from mechanical damage. In case of danger, the leg can also be drawn into the sink, like the head.
As you can see, any snail has all of these features. So, we have every reason to consider the assertion that the snail is an insect erroneous.
Animals belonging to the class of gastropods originally spread in the aquatic environment. But later, many families adapted to life on land and even acquired lungs. Today, gill-breathing species exist along with those who receive oxygen from the air.
Insect signs
It makes sense to consider this moment in order to finally understand whether the snail is an insect or not.
All members of the class have bodies such as:
- head;
- chest;
- abdomen;
- 3 pairs of limbs;
- 2 pairs of wings.
The only resemblance to snails is the presence of an exoskeleton. In insects, its role is played by the chitinous cover, and in snails - the shell. With a big stretch, size can be distinguished as a similar external feature, however, it should be noted that different species differ greatly in size. Giants are found among snails, and among representatives of the type of arthropods. However, like the kids barely visible to the naked eye.
Variety of snails
Note that none of the known species of mollusks has signs that appeared during evolution that would be characteristic of insects. So, for a knowledgeable person, confusion is impossible even in individual cases. Thus, the answer to the question of whether snails are insects or not is always the same - no, they are not.
Meanwhile, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish representatives of the class of gastropods from each other. An example of this is a beautiful aquarium ampoule and a ground lawn, which some unscrupulous sellers sell to inexperienced aquarists. These species belong to different genera, but are very similar in appearance.
Along with such species, there are many completely unusual ones: huge and tiny, bright and monochrome, with a spherical and elongated shell, like a corkscrew.
Snails around us
We already know that any statement that the snail is an insect is mistaken. But sometimes these creatures live nearby: in gardens, in meadows, in forests and in swamps. Lovers of wildlife have long learned to keep representatives of both classes at home.
But in the depths of the sea, mollusks do not adjoin insects, although there are many representatives of other classes such as arthropods in the underwater kingdom (for example, crayfish, crab, shrimp are arthropods).
Confusion Brothers
The question of whether the snail is an insect or not is quite common. But such confusion sometimes occurs with other animals. Spiders, scorpions, ticks and worms are often mistakenly attributed to insects.
To determine whether a creature is an insect, you should not be guided only by its size and habitat. To avoid errors, the list of class attributes, which we examined above, will help. For example, a spider has 4 pairs of legs and has no wings, which means it cannot be an insect. And the earthworm does not at all have a single characteristic feature of arthropods.
Who are the slugs?
Another common misconception is that individuals similar to each other with a shell and without belong to the same species, but have a different gender or age. Understanding the issue of the species of snails, it should be remembered that slugs are not a stage of development and not a gender sign, but the common name for a number of mollusks that descended from gastropods, having lost their shell.
It is noteworthy that similar forms were formed in different families of gastropods, both land and underwater. Therefore, scientists do not distinguish slugs into a separate taxon, using this term as a collective name for representatives of different species. Of course, slugs do not belong to insects.