Lanistes is a genus of freshwater snails which have a gill and an operculum, aquatic gastropod mollusks in the family Ampullariidae, the apple snails.
The distribution of the genus Lanistes includes Africa and Madagascar.
Lanistes has a unique anatomy among the Ampullariidae: it has a "hyperstrophic" sinistral shell. This means that the body of the snail is dextral (as in all other ampullariids), but the shell appears to be sinistral. However the sinistral appearance stems from the fact that the rotation of the shell as it grows is in an upward direction rather than the usual downward direction.
Three subgenera have been recognized, based on shell differences: Lanistes sensu stricto, Meladomus and Leroya. These subgenera are not used in recent works.
Extant species within the genus Lanistes include:
Lanistes alexandri (Bourguignat, 1889)
Lanistes ambiguus Martens, 1866
Lanistes bernardianus (Morelet, 1860)
Lanistes beseneckeri Schütt in Schütt & Besenecker, 1973 †
Lanistes bicarinatus Germain, 1907
Lanistes bloyeti (Bourguignat, 1889)
Lanistes carinatus (Olivier, 1804)
Lanistes chaperi (Kobelt, 1912)
Lanistes carinatus (Olivier, 1804) - type species
Lanistes ciliatus Martens, 1878
Lanistes congicus O. Boettger, 1891
Lanistes deguerryanus (Bourguignat, 1889)
Lanistes ellipticus Martens, 1866
Lanistes farleri Craven, 1880
Lanistes fultoni (Kobelt, 1912)
Lanistes grasseti (Morelet, 1863)
Lanistes graueri Thiele, 1911
Lanistes intortus Martens, 1877
Lanistes jouberti (Bourguignat, 1888)
Lanistes letourneuxi (Bourguignat, 1879)
Lanistes libycus (Morelet, 1848)Lanistes libycus var. albersi
Lanistes libycus form bernardianus or as Lanistes bernardianus (Morelet, 1860)
Lanistes magnus Furtado, 1886
Lanistes nasutus Mandahl-Barth, 1972
Lanistes neavei Melvill & Standen, 1907
Lanistes neritoides Brown & Berthold, 1990
Lanistes nitidissimus (Bourguignat, 1889)
Lanistes nsendweensis (Dupuis & Putzeys, 1901)
Lanistes nyassanus Dohrn, 1865
Lanistes ovatus (Olivier, 1804)
Lanistes ovum Peters in Troschel, 1845 - synonyms: Lanistes magnus Furtado; Lanistes olivaceus (Sowerby); Lanistes procerus; Lanistes elatior Martens, 1866; Lanistes ovum bangweolicus Haas, 1936; Lanistes connollyi Pain, 1954 Lanistes ovum adansoni; Lanistes olivaceus var. ambiguus
Lanistes palustris (Morelet, 1864)
Lanistes pfeifferi (Bourguignat, 1879)
Lanistes pilsbryi Walker, 1925
Lanistes pseudoceratodes (Wenz, 1928)
Lanistes purpureus (Jonas, 1839)
Lanistes solidus Smith, 1877
Lanistes stuhlmanni Martens, 1897
Lanistes varicus (Müller, 1774) - synonyms: Lanistes adansoni Kobelt, 1911; Lanistes millestriatus Pilsbry & Bequaert, 1927
Fossil species within the genus Lanistes include:
† Lanistes asellus van Damme & Pickford, 1995
† Lanistes bishopi Gautier
† Lanistes gautieri van Damme & Pickford, 1995
† Lanistes gigas van Damme & Pickford, 1995
† Lanistes hadotoi van Damme & Pickford, 1995
† Lanistes heynderycxi van Damme & Pickford, 1995
† Lanistes nkondoensis van Damme & Pickford, 1995
† Lanistes olukaensis
† Lanistes senuti van Damme & Pickford, 1995
† Lanistes trochiformis van Damme & Pickford, 1995
