Patera (gastropod)

Patera (gastropod)

Patera is a genus (or subgenus under Mesodon) of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Polygyridae.

The name is from the Latin patera, meaning a saucer, and refers to the highly depressed, saucer-like shape of the shells of these snails. In addition to flattened shells, members of the group have an imperforate umbilicus, and a single tooth, on the parietal wall of the aperture.

These snails are known only from the eastern United States.