----------
> From: Philip Poland <[log in to unmask]>
> To: PaulCyp <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Neverita duplicata (Say, 1822), alias the Atlantic Moon
Snail
> Date: Saturday, March 21, 1998 6:23 PM
>
> Thanks for picking this up.
> Yep, most folks are thinking that the color, height and callus of
Neverita
> duplicata are variable and that the story goes no farther. I took these
> statements out of the books as the way it must be, but..... What I found
in
> the field just didn't match. This is something that happens to me on a
> regular basis.
> I should have posted, along with the photos, notes on the differences
> between what I think are two separate species. I was waiting for more
data
> and insight from the list before doing that.
> Anyway, let me tell you what I have. There is a form, found from near
Cape
> Romano at the south end of Florida to at least Gulfport, Mississippi on
the
> Gulf of Mexico. It is a bay inhabitant, though also found at inlet areas.
> Neverita sp., as I'll call this form, has a relatively globose shell
> tending toward brown in color. It seldom exceeds 45 mm. The umbilical
> surface of the body whorl appears strongly excavated, or gouged out. This
> channel within the umbilicus is covered with a thick golden brown
> periostracum. This feature is probably the most important one in terms of
> shell morphology. Please take a look at the apertural views of the two
> forms posted on the Jacksonville Shell Club Home Page
> (http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/wfrank/jacksonv.htm). Click on "Past
> Articles" then on "Neverita."
> Neverita duplicata (Say, 1822) has a relatively squat and gray shell,
often
> reaching 60 mm. Some are considerably larger. The umbilical surface of
the
> body whorl is evenly rounded. On the Gulf coast, it is dredged offshore
and
> collected on open beaches and at inlets. The illustrations in Gould
(1870),
> and Vokes & Vokes (1984), respectively, suggest that it ranges from Maine
> to Yucatan.
> I would be very interested in hearing from collectors of recent and
fossil
> forms from the southeastern U.S.
> One last note. They do not seem to interbreed, even in the few area where
> an overlap of the forms is found.
>
> Phil P.
> ----------
> > From: PaulCyp <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re:       Neverita duplicata (Say, 1822), alias the Atlantic
> Moon Snail
> > Date: Friday, March 20, 1998 10:42 PM
> >
> > The Americam Museum of Natural History Guide to Shells notes (under
> "Polinices
> > duplicatus") that "southern specimens have a bluish-gray and generally
> more
> > depressed or oval shell than the buff-colored northern specimens".
> >
> > Paul M.