''Aliger gallus'', previously known as ''Strombus gallus'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

the rooster conch or rooster-tail conch, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of medium-sized

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 ...

, a marine

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 ...

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 ...

Strombidae Strombidae, common name, commonly known as the true conchs, is a Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic family (biology), family of medium-sized to very large sea snails in the superfamily (zoology), superfamily Stromboidea, and the Epifamily Neostromboid ...

, the true conchs.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Aliger gallus (Linnaeus, 1758). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=419692 on 2020-04-02

Distribution

This species is found from southeast

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 ...

and

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

through the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

and south to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Description

The average shell length of this species is about 12.5 cm.Abbott, R. T.; Dance, S. P. (2000). ''Compendium of Seashells''. Odyssey Publishing, California. p. 76. The maximum recorded

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

length is 197 mm.Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". '' PLOS One'' 5(1): e8776. .

Habitat

The minimum recorded depth for this species is 0.3 m.; the maximum recorded depth is 82 m.

Phylogeny

The

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

relationships among the

have been mainly accessed on two occasions, by Simone (2005) and Latiolais (2006), using two distinct methods. Simone proposed a

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek language, Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an Phylogenetic tree, evolutionary tree because it does not s ...

(a tree of descent) based on an extensive morpho-

anatomical Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

analysis of representatives of Aporrhaidae, Strombidae,

Xenophoridae Xenophoridae, common name, commonly called carrier shells, is a family (biology), family of medium-sized to large sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod mollusks in the clade Littorinimorpha. Distribution The Xenophorids live on sand and ...

and Struthiolariidae, which included ''L. gallus'' (there referred to as ''Aliger gallus''). With the exception of '' Lambis'' and '' Terebellum'', the remaining

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

were previously allocated within the genus ''

Strombus ''Strombus'' is a genus of medium to large sea snails, marine (ocean), marine gastropod molluscs in the family (biology), family Strombidae, which comprises the true conchs and their immediate relatives. The genus ''Strombus'' was named by Swedi ...

'', including ''L. gallus''. However, according to Simone, only '' Strombus gracilior'', '' Strombus alatus'' and ''

Strombus pugilis ''Strombus pugilis'', common names the fighting conch and the West Indian fighting conch, is a species of medium to large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Strombidae, the true conchs. ''S. pugilis'' is similar in appearance t ...

'', the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

, remained within ''Strombus'', as they constituted a distinct group based on at least five

synapomorphies In phylogenetics, an apomorphy (or derived trait) is a novel character or character state that has evolved from its ancestral form (or plesiomorphy). A synapomorphy is an apomorphy shared by two or more taxa and is therefore hypothesized to ...

(traits that are shared by two or more

and their

most recent common ancestor A most recent common ancestor (MRCA), also known as a last common ancestor (LCA), is the most recent individual from which all organisms of a set are inferred to have descended. The most recent common ancestor of a higher taxon is generally assu ...

). The remaining taxa were previously considered as

subgenera In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

, and were elevated to genus level by Simone in the end of his analysis. The genus '' Aliger'' (now considered a synonym of '' Lobatus''), in this case, included ''Aliger gallus'' (now considered a synonym of ''Lobatus gallus'') and ''Aliger costatus'' (= '' Lobatus costatus''), which were thus considered closely related. In a different approach, Latiolais and colleagues (2006) proposed another

that attempts to show the

relationships of 34 species within the family Strombidae. The authors analysed 31 species in the genus ''

''including''Lobatus gallus'' (there referred to as ''Strombus gallus''), and three species in the allied genus '' Lambis''. The cladogram was based on

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

sequences of both nuclear

histone H3 Histone H3 is one of the five main histones involved in the structure of chromatin in eukaryotic cells. Featuring a main globular domain and a long N-terminal end, N-terminal tail, H3 is involved with the structure of the nucleosomes of the 'b ...

and mitochondrial cytochrome-c oxidase I (COI) protein-coding

gene In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

regions. In this proposed phylogeny, ''Strombus gigas'' (= '' Lobatus gigas'') and ''Strombus gallus'' are closely related and appear to share a

common ancestor Common descent is a concept in evolutionary biology applicable when one species is the ancestor of two or more species later in time. According to modern evolutionary biology, all living beings could be descendants of a unique ancestor commonl ...

.Latiolais J. M., Taylor M. S., Roy K. & Hellberg M. E. (2006). "A molecular phylogenetic analysis of strombid gastropod morphological diversity". ''

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of evolutionary biology and phylogenetics. The journal is edited by E.A. Zimmer. Indexing The journal is indexed in: * EMBiology *Journal Citation Reports *Scopus ...

'' 41: 436–444.
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References

External links

Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata [10th revised edition], vol. 1: 824 pp. Laurentius Salvius: Holmiae
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q55650738, from2=Q3500525 Strombidae Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus