Vitta virginea

Last updated

Vitta virginea
Temporal range: Miocene - Recent
Neritina Virginea.jpg
Shells of Vitta virginea
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Neritimorpha
Order: Cycloneritida
Family: Neritidae
Genus: Vitta
Species:
V. virginea
Binomial name
Vitta virginea
Synonyms [2]
  • Nerita bahiensisRécluz, 1850
  • Nerita cardinalisRöding, 1798
  • Nerita chlorinaLink, 1807
  • Nerita fasciolaRécluz, 1850
  • Nerita listeriL. Pfeiffer, 1840
  • Nerita marmorataLink, 1807
  • Nerita nigrocinctaRöding, 1798
  • Nerita phrygiaDillwyn, 1823
  • Nerita tigrisRécluz, 1850
  • Nerita virgineaLinnaeus, 1758 (original combination)
  • Neritina (Vitta) virginea(Linnaeus, 1758) (superseded combination)
  • Neritina brazilianaG. B. Sowerby II, 1849
  • Neritina cajennensisRigacci, 1866
  • Neritina matoniMörch, 1852
  • Neritina minorMetcalf, 1904
  • Neritina trabalisMörch, 1852
  • Neritina virginea(Linnaeus, 1758) (unaccepted combination)
  • Theodoxus virginea(Linnaeus, 1758)

Vitta virginea, the virgin nerite, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Neritidae. [3]

Contents

Distribution

This species is widespread from the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cuba, West Indies, Greater and Lesser Antilles, Dominica, Puerto Rico, Central America (Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica), Brazil, Venezuela, Suriname, Colombia, Mexico, Texas and Florida. [2] [4] [5]

Habitat

Vitta virginea can withstand large changes in salinity and therefore may live in freshwaters, in marine and in brackish waters. These sea snails occur in rivers and streams, in estuaries and in the sea, on sand, silt and stones, brackish ponds and mangroves. [2] [6]

A shell of Vitta virginea from Barbados, on display at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano Neritidae - Neritina virginea.jpg
A shell of Vitta virginea from Barbados, on display at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano

Description

Shells of Vitta virginea can reach an average size of 6–25 millimetres (0.24–0.98 in). [4] These colorful grass-flat snails show extremely variable pattern and color. They are semiglobular, with 3 or 4 whorls. The aperture is oval, with thin lips. Operculum is usually black. The polished shell surface may be black, grey or white, yellowish, olive, red and purple, with various stripes or waves, spots and lines. [7] [8]

Biology

They are herbivorous (algae) and diadromous. They are involved in massive upstream migrations. [2] [9]

Shells of Vitta virginea Neritina virginea (Linne, 1758) (8577779994).jpg
Shells of Vitta virginea

References

  1. Paleobiology Database
  2. 1 2 3 4 IUCN Red List
  3. Neritina virginea (Linnaeus, 1758) . Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species  on 5 May 2010.
  4. 1 2 "Neritina (Vittina) virginea". Gastropods.com. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  5. (in German) Starmühlner F. von (1988). "Ergebnisse der Österreichisch-Französischen Hydrobiologischen Mission 1979 nach Guadeloupe, Dominica und Martinique (Kleine Antillen). Teil II: Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Süß- und Brackwassermollusken von Guadeloupe, Dominica und Martinique". Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien Serie B, 90: 221–340. PDF.
  6. Ferney Ortiz, L; Blanco, JF (2012). "[Distribution of the mangrove gastropods Neritina virginea (Neritidae) and Littoraria angulifera (Littorinidae) within the Colombian Caribbean Darién Ecoregion]". Rev Biol Trop. 60 (1): 219–32. doi: 10.15517/rbt.v60i1.2755 . PMID   22458220.
  7. Susan B. Rothschild Beachcomber's Guide to Gulf Coast Marine Life: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi
  8. R. Tucker Abbott, Percy A. Morris A Field Guide to Shells: Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and the West Indies
  9. JUAN F. BLANCO AND FREDERICK N. SCATENA Floods, Habitat Hydraulics and Upstream Migration of Neritina virginea (Gastropoda: Neritidae) in Northeastern Puerto Rico

Bibliography