Pulmonata

Pulmonata is a traditional grouping of gastropods whose mantle cavity functions as an air-breathing lung. Molecular studies have shown that it is not a natural evolutionary group.

Gastropoda: Gastropoda is the mollusk class that includes snails, slugs, limpets, and their relatives. Pulmonata was traditionally classified as a major group within this class.
Pulmonary respiration: Pulmonary respiration is gas exchange between air and blood across a respiratory surface in a lung. The name Pulmonata derives from this mode of respiration.
Georges Cuvier: Georges Cuvier was a French naturalist who helped establish comparative anatomy and vertebrate paleontology. His anatomical classifications helped shape early groupings of mollusks such as Pulmonata.
Caenogastropoda: Caenogastropoda is a large gastropod clade that includes most living snails with a single pair of gills or a derived equivalent. Its predominantly gill-based respiration contrasts with the traditional lung-based definition of Pulmonata.
Mantle (mollusk): The mantle is a tissue layer in mollusks that covers the visceral mass and often secretes the shell. Pulmonates breathe with a lung-like cavity formed from this tissue.
Hemocyanin: Hemocyanin is a copper-containing oxygen-transport protein found in the blood of many mollusks and arthropods. It carries oxygen absorbed across the mantle-cavity lung in many pulmonates.
Linnaean taxonomy: Linnaean taxonomy is a hierarchical system for naming and classifying organisms, developed from Carl Linnaeus's work. Pulmonata persisted as a formal taxonomic grouping within this classification tradition.
Vetigastropoda: Vetigastropoda is a gastropod clade that includes many marine snails with ancestral-style gills. Its typical gill-bearing marine forms contrast with the air-breathing pulmonate body plan.
Pneumostome: A pneumostome is an external opening through which air enters or leaves a terrestrial snail's mantle cavity. This opening connects the lung-like cavity to the air in many land pulmonates.
Aerial respiration: Aerial respiration is gas exchange using air rather than water as the source of oxygen. Pulmonate ancestry is associated with air breathing, though some descendants returned to aquatic habitats.

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