Chilina
Chilina is a genus of air-breathing freshwater snails, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Chilinoidea. "Chilina" is the only genus in the family Chilinidae. Distribution. Chilinidae occupies the temperate and cold zones of South America from the Tropic of Capricorn to Cape Horn and Falkland Islands. Distribution of "Chilina" include Argentina (17 species, 12 of them are endemic species), Uruguay (2 species), Brazil (about 4 species). Taxonomy. The family Chilinidae has been classified in the clade Hygrophila within the informal group Basommatophora (according to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda by Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005). There are no subfamilies . Species. Species within the genus "Chilina" include: Ecology. Within their area, the Chilinidae are abundant snails in all suitable stations, as Physidae are in North America. They swarm in springs, small streams, lakes, and in some places the margins of rivers. They are most abundant southward, becoming rarer and local toward the northern borders of their range. "Chilina gibbosa" and "Chilina fluminea" are medically important, because they transfer parasites causing dermatitis. References. This article incorporates public domain text from the reference