''Melongena'' is a genus of

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine current power * Marine debris * Marine energy * Marine habitats * Mari ...

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

s in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Melongenidae The Melongenidae, the crown conchs and their relatives, are a taxonomic family of large to very large marine gastropods in the superfamily Buccinoidea.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Melongenidae Gill, 1871 (1854). Accessed through: W ...

, the crown conches and their allies.WoRMS (2010). Melongena Schumacher, 1817. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) World Marine Mollusca database. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=205587 on 2011-04-02

Species

Species within the genus ''Melongena'' include: * † '' Melongena basilica'' (Bellardi, 1873) * '' Melongena bispinosa'' (Philippi, 1844) * † '' Melongena californica'' Anderson & Martin, 1914 F. M. Anderson and B. Martin. 1914. Neocene record in the Temblor Basin, California, and Neocene deposits of the San Juan District, San Luis Obispo County. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, Fourth Series 4(3):15-112 * ''

Melongena corona ''Melongena corona'', common name the Florida crown conch, is a species of sea snail, a marine (ocean), marine Gastropoda, gastropod Mollusca, mollusk in the family (biology), family Melongenidae, the crown conches and their allies.MolluscaBase e ...

'' (Gmelin, 1791) - crown conch - synonym: ''Melongena subcoronata'' * † ''

Melongena lainei ''Melongena'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Melongenidae, the crown conches and their allies.WoRMS (2010). Melongena Schumacher, 1817. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G. (2010) World Marine Mollusca dat ...

'' (Basterot, 1825) * '' Melongena melongena'' (Linnaeus, 1758) - type species * † '' Melongena murifactor'' Vermeij & Raven, 2009 * ''

Melongena patula ''Melongena'' is a genus of sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the family (biology), family Melongenidae, the crown conches and their allies.WoRMS (2010). Melongena Schumacher, 1817. In: Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S.; Rosenberg, G ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * † '' Melongena pontonxensis'' Lozouet, 2021 * † '' Melongena woodwardi'' (Roxo, 1924) - from

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

of the

Pebas Formation The Pebas Formation is a stratigraphic unit#Lithostratigraphic units, lithostratigraphic unit of Miocene age, found in western Amazon rainforest, Amazonia. The geological formation, formation extends over , including parts of Brazil, Peru, Ecuador ...

Vermeij J. & Wesselingh F. P. (2002). "Neogastropod molluscs from the Miocene of western Amazonia, with comments on marine to freshwater transitions in molluscs". ''

Journal of Paleontology The ''Journal of Paleontology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the field of paleontology. It is managed and published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Paleontological Society. Indexing The ''Journal of Paleontology ...

'' 76(2): 265-270. . ;Synonyms: * ''Melongena belknapi'' Petit de la Saussaye, 1852: synonym of ''

'' (Gmelin, 1791) * ''Melongena bicolor'' (Say, 1826): synonym of ''

'' (Gmelin, 1791) * ''Melongena fasciata'' Schumacher, 1817: synonym of '' Melongena melongena'' (Linnaeus, 1758) * ''Melongena paradisiaca'' (Röding, 1798): synonym of ''Volema paradisiaca'' Röding, 1798 : synonym of ''

Volema pyrum ''Volema pyrum'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Melongenidae, the crown conches and their allies. Nomenclature Abbott & Dance (1986: 176) treated Gmelin's name as preoccupied by Linnaeus, but Gmelin named hi ...

'' (Gmelin, 1791) (previous combination) * ''Melongena perspinosa'' Pilsbry & Vanatta, 1934 accepted as Melongena corona (Gmelin, 1791) * ''Melongena pirum'' Dautzenberg, 1929: synonym of ''

'' (Gmelin, 1791) * ''Melongena sprucecreekensis'' Tucker, 1994: synonym of ''

'' (Gmelin, 1791) * † ''Melongena vigneauxi'' Magne & Vergneau-Saubade, 1970: synonym of † '' Melongena basilica'' (Bellardi, 1873) The shells of ''Melongena'' species are extremely variable in shape and sculpture, and historically this has meant that a large number of different forms have been named, creating numerous

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

s. There is still some disagreement about how many modern species of ''Melongena'' actually exist. However, phylogenetic analysis indicate that there are only three species in the Western Atlantic, with all snails in coastal Florida being referred to ''Melongena corona''.Hayes, K. A., 2003. ''Phylogeography and Evolution of the Florida Crown Conch (Melongena corona)'' MS Thesis University of South Florida, Department of Biology. File:Melongena caloosahatcheensis 01.JPG, Melongena caloosahatcheensis File:Melongena consors 01.jpg, Melongena consors File:Florida Crown Conch (Melongena corona) (8386471216).jpg, Melongena corona File:Melongena corona fossil 01.JPG, Melongena corona
Fossil File:Melongena_melongena_01.JPG, Melongena melongena File:Melongenidae - Melongena patula.JPG, Melongena patula File:Melongena sarasotaensis 01.jpg, Melongena sarasotaensis File:Melongena sprucecreekensis 01.JPG, Melongena sprucecreekensis

Distribution

The genus ''Melongena'' occurs only in the tropical

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

. It appears that three nominally valid species occur in the tropics of the western

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

: one in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, one in the Yucatan, and one in

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. A fourth species is found on the tropical eastern

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

coast.

Habitat

Species within this genus live in the tropical

intertidal zone The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of habitats with various ...

, in muddy areas such as under

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

trees.

Life habits

''Melongena'' snails are carnivorous, primarily preying on small bivalves (clams, mussels and oysters). They will also feed on other species of snails and have been known to be cannibalistic.

Species

Distribution

Habitat

Life habits

References

Further reading