Blanfordia simplex is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of land snail

Land snail

A land snail is any of the many species of snail that live on land, as opposed to those that live in salt water and fresh water. Land snails are terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells, It is not always an easy matter to say which species are terrestrial, because some are more or less...

 that has an operculum

Operculum (gastropod)

The operculum, meaning little lid, is a corneous or calcareous anatomical structure which exists in many groups of sea snails and freshwater snails, and also in a few groups of land snails...

, a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Pomatiopsidae

Pomatiopsidae

Pomatiopsidae is a family of small mainly freshwater snails with gills and an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Rissooidea ....

.

Henry Augustus Pilsbry

Henry Augustus Pilsbry

Henry Augustus Pilsbry was an American biologist, malacologist and carcinologist, among other areas of study. He was a dominant presence in many fields of invertebrate taxonomy for the better part of a century...

 described it as Blanfordia japonica var. simplex in 1902. He has elevated this taxon to specific level in 1903.

Distribution

This species is endemic to Japan. It occurs widely along the Sea of Japan

Sea of Japan

The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...

. The type locality is Nishigo, Uzen Province

Uzen Province

is an old province of Japan in the area of Yamagata Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Ugo Province.This province was in the Tōhoku region of Honshū island. It was the place where the Mogami clan was established.-References:...

, Honshu

Honshu

is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...

.

It is a Near Threatened

Near Threatened

Near Threatened is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status...

 species.

Description

Blanfordia simplex has a shell

Gastropod shell

The gastropod shell is a shell which is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, one kind of mollusc. The gastropod shell is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from predators and from mechanical damage...

 with 4.1-5.1 whorls

Whorl (mollusc)

A whorl is a single, complete 360° revolution or turn in the spiral growth of a mollusc shell. A spiral configuration of the shell is found in of numerous gastropods, but it is also found in shelled cephalopods including Nautilus, Spirula and the large extinct subclass of cephalopods known as the...

. Pilsbry (1902) described the first whorl to be more or less worn. The color of the shell is yellowish-olivaceous. It has the lip hardly visible, only a mere trifle expanded.
The width of the shell is 3.7-4.2 mm. The height of the shell is 5.9-6.9 mm.


The shell of Blanfordia simplex is shorter and broader than that of Blanfordia bensoni

Blanfordia bensoni

Blanfordia bensoni is a species of land snail which has an operculum, a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in the family Pomatiopsidae.Blanfordia bensoni is the type species of the genus Blanfordia.- Distribution :This species is endemic to Japan...

.

Ecology

This species lives on coastal dunes and in littoral

Littoral

The littoral zone is that part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. In coastal environments the littoral zone extends from the high water mark, which is rarely inundated, to shoreline areas that are permanently submerged. It always includes this intertidal zone and is often used to...

 forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

s.

External links

• Pilsbry H. A. (1915). "The Japanese species of Blanfordia". The Nautilus
  The Nautilus (journal)
  The Nautilus is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in malacology. Hence its scope includes all aspects of the biology, ecology, and systematics of mollusks....
  
  29(1): 1-4. page 2, figure 3, 3a.