''Coloniconcha prima'' 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 air-breathing

semi-slug Semi-slugs, also spelled semislugs, are land gastropods whose shells are too small for them to retract into, but not quite vestigial. The shell of some semi-slugs may not be easily visible on casual inspection, because the shell may be covered ...

, a

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...

pulmonate Pulmonata or pulmonates is an informal group (previously an order, and before that, a subclass) of snails and slugs characterized by the ability to breathe air, by virtue of having a pallial lung instead of a gill, or gills. The group inclu ...

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

Pleurodontidae Pleurodontidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Pleurodontidae Ihering, 1912. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Spe ...

.Breure A. S. H. (2010). "The rediscovery of a semi-slug: ''Coloniconcha prima'' Pilsbry, 1933 (Gastropoda, Pleurodontidae) from Hispaniola". ''

Basteria ''Basteria'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Netherlands Malacological Society, covering research on molluscs. It was established in 1936 and is now published mostly in English. The editor-in-chief is Ruud Bank. A ...

'' 74(4-6): 78-86. It is the only species in the genus ''Coloniconcha''.

Description

''Coloniconcha prima'' has a thin semioval

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 ...

. The shape of the shell is similar to ''

Vitrina ''Vitrina'' is genus of small air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the family Vitrinidae, the glass snails.MolluscaBase eds. (2023). MolluscaBase. Vitrina Draparnaud, 1801. Accessed through: World Register of Mar ...

''. The color of the shell is yellow with green tint. The shell has 2.5

whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). In nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral diagram ...

. The width of the shell is 22.3 mm. The animal is greenish yellow in color with dark tentacles. Black spots on the mantle are visible through translucent shell.

Distribution and habitat

It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to 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 ...

island of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

, where it is found in

Chaîne de la Selle Chaîne may refer to: People * Marius Chaîne (1873–1960), French scholar of Ethiopic and Coptic philology Places *Chaîne des Puys, a north-south oriented chain of cinder cones, lava domes, and maars in the Massif Central of France * Chaîne d ...

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

and the

Baoruco Mountain Range The Bahoruco Mountain Range—Sierra de Bahoruco (or Sierra de Bahoruco) is a mountain range located in the far southwestern region of the Dominican Republic. It is within Pedernales Province, Pedernales, Independencia Province, Independencia, Ba ...

and Sierra de Martin García in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

References

Pleurodontidae Monotypic gastropod genera Gastropods described in 1933 {{Pleurodontidae-stub Endemic fauna of Hispaniola