Liguus fasciatus

Liguus fasciatus, the Liguus Tree Snails, also known as "living jewels", is a species of air-breathing land snail, a tree snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Orthalicidae.

Liguus fasciatus
Liguus fasciatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora
informal group Sigmurethra
Superfamily:
Orthalicoidea
Family:
Orthalicidae
Subfamily:
Orthalicinae
Genus:
Liguus
Species:
L. fasciatus
Binomial name
Liguus fasciatus
(Müller, 1774)

Subspecies

In Florida this species includes the following 52 varieties or color forms, while in Cuba it is present in more than 70 varieties.[1][2][3][4]

  • Liguus fasciatus alternatus
  • Liguus fasciatus aurantius
  • Liguus fasciatus barbouri
  • Liguus fasciatus capensis
  • Liguus fasciatus castaneozonatus
  • Liguus fasciatus castaneus
  • Liguus fasciatus cingulatus
  • Liguus fasciatus clenchi
  • Liguus fasciatus crasus
  • Liguus fasciatus deckerti
  • Liguus fasciatus delicatus
  • Liguus fasciatus dohertyi
  • Liguus fasciatus dryas
  • Liguus fasciatus eburneus
  • Liguus fasciatus elegans
  • Liguus fasciatus elliottensis
  • Liguus fasciatus floridanus
  • Liguus fasciatus fuscoflamellus
  • Liguus fasciatus farnumi
  • Liguus fasciatus gloryasylvaticus
  • Liguus fasciatus graphicus
  • Liguus fasciatus innominatus
  • Liguus fasciatus lignumvitae
  • Liguus fasciatus lineolatus
  • Liguus fasciatus livingstoni
  • Liguus fasciatus lossmanicus
  • Liguus fasciatus lucidovarius
  • Liguus fasciatus luteus
  • Liguus fasciatus marmoratus
  • Liguus fasciatus matecumbensis
  • Liguus fasciatus miammiensis
  • Liguus fasciatus mosieri
  • Liguus fasciatus nebulosus
  • Liguus fasciatus ornatus
  • Liguus fasciatus osmenti
  • Liguus fasciatus pictus
  • Liguus fasciatus pseudopictus
  • Liguus fasciatus roseatus
  • Liguus fasciatus septentrionalis
  • Liguus fasciatus simpsoni
  • Liguus fasciatus solidulus
  • Liguus fasciatus solicoccasus
  • Liguus fasciatus splendidus
  • Liguus fasciatus subcrenatus
  • Liguus fasciatus testudineus
  • Liguus fasciatus vacaensis
  • Liguus fasciatus versicolor
  • Liguus fasciatus violafumosus
  • Liguus fasciatus walkeri
  • Liguus fasciatus wintei
  • Liguus fasciatus solidus
  • Liguus fasciatus vonpaulseni
The shells of subspecies of Liguus fasciatus (from Pilsbry, 1912[5]), left to right: Liguus fasciatus castaneozonatus, L. f. elliottensis, L. f. graphicus, L. f. lossmanicus, L. f. matecumbensis, L. f. septentrionalis, L. f. solidus, and L. f. testudineus.

Description
A live individual of Liguus fasciatus from Everglades

Shells of Liguus fasciatus can reach a size of 42–68 millimetres (1.7–2.7 in).[6][1] These polished shining shells, ranging from white to almost black, have whorls banded with many colors (chestnut, orange, yellow pink or green).[1]

These tree snails feed on fungus and algae scraped from the bark of the host plants (mainly wild tamarind (Lysiloma latisiliquum), pigeon plum (Coccoloba diversifolia) and Myrsine species). They can be found mainly from May through September, but they are active throughout the year.[1]

Distribution

This species is the most widespread of all the Liguus. It occurs in the Caribbean Area (South Florida. Florida Keys, North coast of Cuba, Isle of Pines).[1][7]

Habitat

These tree snails can be found in southern Florida on hammocks, tropical forest and shrubs habitats that are slightly higher in elevation than the surrounding area.[1]

  • Liguus fasciatus achatinus
  • Liguus fasciatus testudineus
  • Shell of Liguus fasciatus from Everglades
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gollark: Also there was that thing where it uploaded binaries to Apple for some reason.

References
  1. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
  2. Archie L. Jones, Erwin C. Winte and Oron L. Bass, Jr. Report T -622 - The Status of Florida Tree Snails (Liguus fasciatus), Introduced to Everglades National Park
  3. The Liguus of Cuba, adjacent Keys and Isle of Pines
  4. Treat Davidson - Tree Snails Gems of the Everglades (National Geographic Magazine March, 1965)
  5. Pilsbry, H. A., 1912. A study of the variation and zoogeography of Liguus in Florida. J. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 15 (2nd ser.): 429-471.
  6. WMSDB – Worldwide Mollusc Species Data Base
  7. The Geographic Distribution of Liguus Species

Further reading
  • Bennetts, R. E., D. Jansen, and S. A. Sparks. 2000. Factors influencing movement probabilities of Florida tree snails (Liguus fasciatus) in Big Cypress National Preserve following Hurricane Andrew. Malacologia 42:31-37.
  • Bennetts, R. E., S. A. Sparks, and D. Jansen. 2000. Host-tree selection by Florida tree snails (Liguus faciatus) in Big Cypress National Preserve. Nautilus 114:112-116.
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