Megalena crassa, 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 air-breathing land snail

Snail

Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...

, a terrestrial

Terrestrial animal

Terrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land , as compared with aquatic animals, which live predominantly or entirely in the water , or amphibians, which rely on a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitats...

 pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Enidae

Enidae

Enidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks.- Anatomy :In this family, the number of haploid chromosomes lies between 21 and 25 .- 1998 taxonomy :...

.

Megalena is a monotypic genus, i.e. it contains only one species, Megalena crassa and therefore this species is also the type species.

The generic name is composed from the prefix mega-, which means "large" from the ancient Greek language, and from the suffix -ena, for which the etymological origin is unknown.

Specimens of this species are stored in collections in Europe: Germany (Senckenberg Museum

Senckenberg Museum

The Naturmuseum Senckenberg in Frankfurt is the second largest museum of natural history in Germany. It is particularly popular with children, who enjoy the extensive collection of dinosaur skeletons: Senckenberg boasts the largest exhibition of large dinosaurs in Europe. One particular treasure is...

, Institute of Zoology and Museum of Zoology of University of Hamburg

University of Hamburg

The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...

), Poland (Institute of Zoology of Polish Academy of Sciences

Polish Academy of Sciences

The Polish Academy of Sciences, headquartered in Warsaw, is one of two Polish institutions having the nature of an academy of sciences.-History:...

 in Warszawa) and in Netherland.

Distribution

This species is known only from a few individuals which were found in northernwestern Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

.

Description

The 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...

is oval and elongated. The height of the shell is from 23.9 mm to 28.7 mm.