''Pleurodonte guadeloupensis'' 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), ...

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

air-breathing

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 ...

, a

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 ...

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

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 ...

. It occurs in the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

(the Caribbean).

Subspecies

There are four

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

: * ''Pleurodonte guadeloupensis dominicana''

Pilsbry Henry Augustus Pilsbry (7 December 1862 – 26 October 1957) was an American biologist, malacologist and carcinologist, among other areas of study. He was a dominant presence in many fields of invertebrate taxonomy for the better part of a cent ...

Cockerell Cockerell is a surname, and may refer to: People * Allan Cockerell (1891–1975), New Zealand soldier and politician * Catherine Cockerell Cobb (1903–1995), British jeweler, silversmith, daughter of Douglas *Charles Robert Cockerell (1788–1863 ...

, 1937 – endemic to

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

* ''Pleurodonte guadeloupensis guadeloupensis'' (Pilsbry, 1889) –

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

* ''Pleurodonte guadeloupensis martinensis'' Hovestadt & Neckheim, 2020 – endemic to

Saint Martin Saint Martin may refer to: People * Saint Martin of Tours (c. 316–397), Bishop of Tours, France * Saint Martin of Braga (c. 520–580), archbishop of Bracara Augusta in Gallaecia (now Braga in Portugal) * Pope Martin I (c. 595–655), bishop of R ...

* ''Pleurodonte guadeloupensis roseolabrum'' (M. Smith, 1911) –

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

Description

This is the smallest ''Pleurodonte'' species on Dominica. It has a velvety

periostracum The periostracum ( ) is a thin, organic coating (or "skin") that is the outermost layer of the shell of many shelled animals, including molluscs and brachiopods. Among molluscs, it is primarily seen in snails and clams, i.e. in gastropods an ...

on the shell surface. Pleurodonte guadeloupensis dominicana shell

Distribution

The distribution of ''Pleurodonte guadeloupensis'' consists of: *

Ecology

This species is widespread on Dominica and can be found in disturbed habitats and agricultural areas. On Saint Martin, it only occurs in the central part of the island, on the densely wooded hills.

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-3.0 text from the reference * Deshayes G.P. , 1839-1851 - Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles tant des espèces que l'on trouve aujourd'hui vivantes, que des dépouilles fossiles de celles qui n'existent plus; classés par les caractères essentiels que présentent ces animaux et leurs coquilles, vol. I, p. 402 pp

External links

Férussac, A.E.J.P.F. d'Audebard de. (1819–1832). Histoire naturelle générale et particulière des mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles tant des espèces que l'on trouve aujourd'hui vivantes, que des dépouilles fossiles de celles qui n'existent plus; classés d'après les caractères essentiels que présentent ces animaux et leurs coquilles. J.-B. Bailliere, Paris. Tome deuxième, première partie.

Pilsbry, H. A. (1889–1890). Manual of conchology, structural and systematic, with illustrations of the species. Ser. 2, Pulmonata. Vol. 5: Helicidae, vol. 3. pp 1–216, pls 1–64. Philadelphia, published by the Conchological Section, Academy of Natural Sciences
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7204772 Pleurodontidae Gastropods of North America Fauna of the Lesser Antilles Molluscs described in 1889 Taxa named by Henry Augustus Pilsbry