''Micrarionta opuntia'', known as the prickly pear island snail, pricklypear islandsnail, or prickly pear snail, 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
land snail
A land snail is any of the numerous species of snail that live on land, as opposed to the sea snails and freshwater snails. ''Land snail'' is the common name for terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have gastropod shell, shel ...
in the family
Xanthonychidae
Xanthonychidae is a family (biology), family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea.MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Xanthonychidae Strebel & Pfeffer, 1879 ...
.
[ 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 California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, first formally described
A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...
in 1975.[
The type locality is northeastern ]San Nicolas Island
San Nicolas Island (Spanish: ''Isla de San Nicolás''; Tongva: ''Haraasnga'') is the most remote of the Channel Islands, off Southern California, from the nearest point on the mainland coast. It is part of Ventura County. The island is current ...
, at the base of a prickly pear (''Opuntia littoralis
''Opuntia littoralis'' is a species of Opuntia, prickly pear cactus known by the common name coastal pricklypear. It is sometimes called the sprawling prickly pear due to its short stems and habit of growing close to the ground. ''"Littoral"'' me ...
''), in a small depression.[ It reaches around in diameter.][
]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q514574
opuntia
''Opuntia'', commonly called the prickly pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae, many known for their flavorful fruit and showy flowers. Cacti are native to the Americas, and are well adapted to arid clima ...
Molluscs of the United States
Gastropods described in 1975
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot