Helicina guppyi
| Helicina guppyi | |
|---|---|
| |
| An apertural view of the shell of Helicina guppyi. Note the presence of the operculum. The height of the shell is 5.99 mm. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| (unranked): | |
| Superfamily: | |
| Family: | |
| Genus: | |
| Species: | H. guppyi
|
| Binomial name | |
| Helicina guppyi | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
Helicina guppyi is a species of tropical land snail with an operculum, a terrestrial gastropod mollusk in the family Helicinidae.
Shell description
The species is smaller and lower-spired than the other Dominican Helicina species, and always has a dull brown colour, a paler aperture and a hairy periostracum; ‘covered with a velvety epidermis’, weakly keeled, with a columellar denticle.[2] Its size is 5-8.5 mm.[2][clarification needed]
Distribution
This species lives in Guadeloupe, Dominica and in Martinique.[2]
This is the most common of the helicinids in Dominica, but generally restricted to the leeward side of the island.[2]
Taxonomy
Robert John Lechmere Guppy (1868)[3] described two taxa from Dominica based on shell variation within this species; both names were preoccupied.[2] William Harper Pease (1871)[1] provided a substitute name in his treatment of Indo-Pacific species.[2] This species was placed in the subgenus Striatemoda by Horace Burrington Baker (1940)[4] based on Guppy’s (1868) comparison with the Puerto Rican Alcadia subfusca (Menke, 1828), and also on Pilsbry’s (1892)[5] erroneous placement of this species with the Hispaniolan Alcadia rufa (L. Pfeiffer, 1857).[2] There is expected the forthcoming revision of the Lesser Antillean Helicinidae by Ira Richling (from Kiel, Germany).[2]
Ecology
This species is usually collected on the trunks of trees, where it is well camouflaged on tree bark, or among detritus and leaves on the ground.[2]
References
This article incorporates CC-BY-3.0 text from the reference.[2]
- ^ a b Pease W. H. (1871). "Catalogue of the land-shells inhabiting Polynesia, with remarks on their synonyms, distribution, and variation, and descriptions of new genera and species". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1871: 449-477.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Robinson D. G., Hovestadt A., Fields A. & Breure A. S. H. (July 2009). "The land Mollusca of Dominica (Lesser Antilles), with notes on some enigmatic or rare species". Zoologische Mededelingen 83 http://www.zoologischemededelingen.nl/83/nr03/a13
- ^ Guppy R. J. L. (1868). "On the terrestrial mollusks of Dominica and Grenada, with an account of some new species from Trinidad". Annals and Magazine of Natural History (4)1: 429-442.
- ^ Baker H. B. (1940). "Striatemoda, new subgenus of Alcadia (?), type of A. (Emoda?) striata (Lamarck), from Puerto Rico". Nautilus 54: 71.
- ^ Pilsbry H. A. (1892). "On a collection of land Mollusca from the Island of Dominica, West Indies". Transactions of the Connecticut Academy of Science 8: 356-358.