Laevaricella perlucens

Laevaricella perlucens is a species of tropical, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Oleacinidae.

Laevaricella perlucens
Laevaricella perlucens
NE[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra
Superfamily:
Testacelloidea
Family:
Oleacinidae
Subfamily:
Varicellinae
Genus:
Laevaricella
Species:
L. perlucens
Binomial name
Laevaricella perlucens
(Guppy, 1868)[2]
Synonyms

Glandina perlucens Guppy, 1868

Distribution

Laevaricella perlucens is endemic to Dominica.[3] The type locality is "on Morne Diablotin, the north end on the island", Dominica.[2]

Laevaricella perlucens is very restricted in range[3] and probably meet the IUCN-criteria of Critically Endangered species.[3]

Description

Laevaricella perlucens was originally discovered and described (under the name Glandina perlucens) by British-born naturalist Robert John Lechmere Guppy in 1868.[2]

Guppy's original text (the type description) reads in Latin language and in English language as follows:

Glandina perlucens, n. sp.

Testa subulate-turrita, laevis, diaphana, fusco-flavida, vix striatula, lineis distautibus ornata; apex obtusissimus; anfractus 7, parum convexi, lente accrescentes, ultimas applanatus, spirse longitudinem circiter sequans; sutura valde impressa; columella valde torta, truncata; peristoma simplex, margine externo aliquanto prominente.

Long, 16 millim., lat. maj. 4 millim.; apart, alt. 4, lat. 2.

A subulate-turreted, smooth, brilliantly polished, yellowish-red shell, marked by obscure striae and by distant variciform lines, of which there are from three to six on a whorl; with a very obtuse apex and seven slowly increasing, scarcely convex whorls, the last somewhat flattened and equal to about half the length of the shell; columella strongly curved, truncate; aperture oval, elongate; peristome simple, its external margin somewhat prominent.

A species allied to G. afrcuata., Pf., of Jamaica. Of three examples I obtained, one only was of full growth.

This species had never been collected since it was described by Guppy (1868)[2] until 2009 and his type material was subsequently lost.[3] The single specimen collected alive in 2009 allowed figure this species for the first time.[3]

Ecology

This species is restricted to higher localities.[3] It does not occur, however, on the upper slopes of the higher peaks, but it seems to be restricted to the hygrophytic vegetation zone (cloud forest).[3]

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference [2] and CC-BY-3.0 text from the reference.[3]

  1. IUCN 2010. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.4. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 5 December 2010.
  2. Guppy R. L. M. (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. page 430.
  3. 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 Archived 7 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
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