Oestophora is a genus 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...

, a gastropod in the Trissexodontidae

Trissexodontidae

Trissexodontidae is a family of land snails, gastropods in the superfamily Helicoidea .This family has no subfamilies...

 family.

Distribution

Distribution of genus Oestophora include western Iberian peninsula

Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...

, north Africa and Azores

Azores

The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

.

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 ribbed, with rounded or keeled 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...

. The apertural margin is reflected and thickened.

Reproductive system

Reproductive system of gastropods

The reproductive system of gastropods varies greatly from one group to another within this very large and diverse taxonomic class of animals...

: There is no flagellum, no penial papilla. There is one small dart

Love dart

A love dart is a hard, long, sharp, calcareous or chitinous dart which some hermaphroditic land snails and slugs create. Love darts are made in sexually mature animals only, and are used as part of the sequence of events during courtship, before actual mating takes place...

 sac, one longer accessory sac separated from vaginal walls and vagina with 3 simple and long accessory (mucus) glands.

The number of haploid chromosome

Chromosome

A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein found in cells. It is a single piece of coiled DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and other nucleotide sequences. Chromosomes also contain DNA-bound proteins, which serve to package the DNA and control its functions.Chromosomes...

s is 30.

Species

It contains the following species:

• Oestophora barbula (Rossmässler, 1838)
• Oestophora calpeana (Morelet, 1854)
• Oestophora dorotheae Hesse, 1930
• Oestophora granesae Arrébola Burgos, 1998
• Oestophora lusitanica (Pfeiffer, 1841) - type species
• Oestophora ortizi
  Oestophora ortizi
  Oestophora ortizi is a species of land snail, a gastropod in the family Trissexodontidae.It is endemic to Spain....
  
  Winter & Ripken, 1991
• Oestophora silvae Ortiz de Zárate López, 1962
• Oestophora tarnieri (Morelet, 1854)

synonyms:

• Oestophora turriplana is a synonym for Gittenbergeria turriplana (Morelet, 1845)