Recluzia palmeri (Dall, 1871)
[very dubious species]

Overview

This is a large, shelled pelagic snail, 3.4 cm in height. It lives in the pleuston and has no swimming fins. The dextral shell is highly coiled and brown. The aperture is round, the columella is straight. It is a carnivorous species predating on relatively large floating animals. It lives in the Caribbean Sea.

Taxonomic description

The shell is relatively thick, solid and smooth with a deep suture. There are 4 inflated whorls. The apex is decollated. The thin columella is slightly inflexed, with a small but clear fold as in Recluzia rollandiana. The aperture is rounded oval, less than half the shell length. The outer aperture lip is rounded. The periostracum is velvety olive-tan. The shell is chestnut-brown.
Shell height to 34.5 mm, diameter to 22.3 mm; floats to 95 mm long.

Juveniles

The juveniles have a dextrally coiled shell. A special description is not available.

Distribution

It is found in the warmer waters of the Indian Ocean, see the Recluzia palmeri map.

Types

Limacina palmeri Dall, 1871.
Type locality : "near the mouth of the Taqui river, near Guaymas, Mexico" about 120 km south of Guaymas.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Mollusca
Class Gastropoda
Subclass Streptoneura
Order Mesogastropoda
Superfamily Epitoniacea
Family Janthinidae
Genus Recluzia
Species Recluzia palmeri

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Not included in WoRMS database

Scientific synonyms and common names

Recluzia palmeri (Dall, 1871)

Synonyms

Limnaea palmeri n. sp. Dall, 1871: 135

This species is in all probability a junior synonymous of Recluzia rollandiana .
The illustration given by Keen (1971) strongly resembles R. jehennei.

Abbott, R. T., 1974. (2 ed.). American seashells. New York, Cincinnati, Toronto, London, Melbourne (van Nostrand Reinhold Co.): 1-663, 6405 figs.

Dall, W. H., 1871. Descriptions of sixty new forms of mollusks from the west coast of North America and the north Pacific Ocean, with notes on others already described. Amer. J. Conch. 7(2): 93-160, pls 13-16.

Keen, A. M., 1971. Sea shells of tropical West America. Stanford (Stanford University Press): 1-1064, 22 pls.

Lalli, C. M. and Gilmer, R. W., 1989. Pelagic snails. The biology of holoplanktonic gastropod mollusks. Stanford, California (Stanford University Press): viii +259 pp., 25 tabs, 76 figs, 16 color figs.

Mienis, H. K., 1987b. A review of the family Janthinidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda) in connection with the Tekhelet dye. In: The royal purple and the biblical blue Argamen and Tekhelet. (E. Spanier (ed) Keter Publ. House, Jerusalem Ltd: 197-205

Poorman, L. H., 1980. New records from the Tropical Eastern Pacific for Recluzia palmeri (Dall, 1871). Veliger 23(2): 183.

No distribution map was available at OBIS the last time we checked. Retry now.

You can continue searching for Recluzia palmeri on one of these Web sites:

Fauna Europaea (animals) | IOPI (plants) | NCBI (genetic)

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