What is "basommatophora"

Basommatophora \Ba*som`ma*toph"o*ra\ (b[.a]*s[o^]m`m[.a]*t[o^]f"[-o]*r[.a]), n. pl. [NL., fr. Gr. ba`sis base + 'o`mma eye + fe`rein to bear.] (Zo["o]l.) A group of Pulmonifera having the eyes at the base of the tentacles, including the common pond snails.

Basommatophora was a term that was previously used as a taxonomic informal group, a group of snails within the informal group Pulmonata, the air-breathing slugs and snails. According to the taxonomy of the Gastropoda (Bouchet & Rocroi, 2005), whenever monophyly has not been tested, or where a traditional taxon of gastropods has now been discovered to be paraphyletic or polyphyletic, the term "group" or "informal group" was used.

Basommatophora are known from the Carboniferous to the Recent periods.

Most of the families in this suborder are air-breathing freshwater snails. The three most abundant families in terms of number of species are, the Lymnaeidae (pond snails), the Planorbidae (ramshorn snails) and the Physidae (pouch or bubble snails). These are found in ponds, creeks, ditches, and shallow lakes nearly worldwide.

The Siphonariidae on the other hand are unusual in that they have secondarily returned to the sea, and are now sea snails, limpet-like marine gastropods which live in the rocky intertidal zone but which still breathe air and become active at low tide. The single species in the family Amphibolidae is archaic and retains an operculum. It lives at such a high tidal level that it could perhaps be considered semi-terrestrial. Members of the family Chilinidae are confined to temperate parts of South America, and the Latiidae are limpet-like and confined to New Zealand.

Basommatophorans are characterized by having their eyes located at the base of their non-retractile tentacles, rather than at the tips, as in the true land snails Stylommatophora. The majority of basommatophorans have shells that are thin, translucent, and relatively colorless, and all except Amphibola lack an operculum.