''Amphibulima patula'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of 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 gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as ...

, a

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. 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 or near the ground, as opposed to ...

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 includ ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

in the family

Amphibulimidae Amphibulimidae is a taxonomic family of land snails, semi-slugs, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the superfamily Orthalicoidea.Breure A. S. H. & Romero P. (2012). "Support and surprises: molecular phylogeny of the land snail superfami ...

Subspecies

Subspecies of ''Amphibulima patula'' include: * ''Amphibulima patula patula'' (Bruguière, 1792) * ''Amphibulima patula dominicensis'' Pilsbry, 1899 - Pilsbry (1899) separated the Dominican specimens on the basis of the darker colour and by having a heavier

sculptured Sculptured is an American experimental and progressive metal band, mixing melodic and atonal segments. Biography Following the dissolution of his previous band, guitarist Don Anderson began Sculptured as mostly a one-man project in 1996. With ...

shell. Robinson et al. (2009) have found living specimens that were either light beige-coloured with a somewhat orange-yellowish line along the foot (see photo on the left), or entirely dark brown coloured (see photo on the right). Comparison of orange-yellowish and dark brown ''Amphibulima patula dominicensis'':

Distribution

The nominate taxon ''Amphibulima patula patula'' has been reported from

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and the ...

(probably now extinct) and

Marie-Galante Marie-Galante ( gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Mawigalant) is one of the islands that form Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France. Marie-Galante has a land area of . It had 11,528 inhabitants at the start of 2013, but by the start of 2018 ...

. The type locality is Guadeloupe. ''Amphibulima patula dominicensis'' is endemic to

Dominica Dominica ( or ; Kalinago: ; french: Dominique; Dominican Creole French: ), officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is geographically ...

. Another variety has been reported from

Saint Kitts Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...

and

Saba Saba may refer to: Places * Saba (island), an island of the Netherlands located in the Caribbean Sea * Şaba (Romanian for Shabo), a town of the Odesa Oblast, Ukraine * Sabá, a municipality in the department of Colón, Honduras * Saba (river), L ...

Description

''Amphibulima patula'' has large foot, that is not completely retracted into the shell in living specimen. But when the live animal is immersed into the preserving fluid, then it retracts completely within the shell. Adult snail is about 2.5 cm. It is called a slug-like snail because the

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 ** Thin-shell structure Science Biology * Seashell, a hard ou ...

is relatively small in proportion to the body and with one large, ear-like

whorl 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). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral ...

and two small whorls. Color is yellowish brown. This species could be confused with the common amber snails (''

Succinea ''Succinea'', common name the amber snails, is a large genus of small, air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs in the family Succineidae. MolluscaBase eds. (2021). MolluscaBase. Succinea Draparnaud, 1801. Access ...

''), especially the juveniles. The ''Amphibulima'' has much coarser sculpture than the amber snails. The

jaw The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term ''jaws'' is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serv ...

and

radula The radula (, ; plural radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by molluscs for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food ...

of ''Amphibulima patula dominicensis'' was described by Bland & Binney in 1874.

Bland T. & Binney W. G. (1874). "XIX—On the Lingual Dentition of Certain Terrestrial Pulmonata Foreign to the United States. Additional note on the genus ''Amphibulima''". ''

Annals of The Lyceum of Natural History of New York The ''Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences'' is an academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the New York Academy of Sciences. It is one of the oldest science journals still being published, having been founded in 1823. The ...

'' 10(1)
219
225. .

Ecology

''Amphibulima patula dominicensis'' is frequently found on banana and ''

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering plant, flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as Orange (fruit), oranges, Lemon, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and lim ...

'' plants, where it may feed on the leaves. They also eat leaves of Virginia pepperweed ''

Lepidium virginicum ''Lepidium virginicum'', also known as least pepperwort or Virginia pepperweed, is an herbaceous plant in the Mustard plant, mustard family (Brassicaceae). It is native to much of North America, including most of the United States and Mexico and ...

'' and ''

Cakile lanceolata ''Cakile'' is a genus within the flowering plant family Brassicaceae. Species in this genus are commonly known as searockets, though this name on its own is applied particularly to whatever member of the species is native or most common in the ...

''. They eat lettuce in captivity.

References

This article incorporates public domain text from the reference

Pilsbry H. A. (1899). "American Bulimulidae: North American and Antillean ''Drymaeus'', ''Leiostracus'', Orthalicinae and Amphibuliminae". ''

Manual of Conchology George Washington Tryon Jr. (20 May 1838 – 5 February 1888) was an American malacologist who worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Biography George Washington Tryon was the son of Edward K. Tryon and Adeline Savidt. ...

'' (2)12: i-iii, 1-258, pls 1-64. ''Amphibulima patula'' is on the pag
234-237
plat
61
figs 14-19. and CC-BY-3.0 text from the reference Robinson D. G., Hovestadt A., Fields A. & Breure A. S. H. (July 2009). "The land Mollusca of Dominica (Lesser Antilles), with notes on some enigmatic or rare species". ''Zoologische Mededelingen'' 83 http://www.zoologischemededelingen.nl/83/nr03/a13 and a public domain

work of the United States Government A work of the United States government, is defined by the United States copyright law, as "a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties." "A 'work of the United States Governmen ...

from the reference.

Stange L. A. (created September 2004, updated March 2006)
"Snails and Slugs of Regulatory Significance to Florida"
. Division of Plant Industry,

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) is an executive department of the government of Florida. The Commissioner of Agriculture (directly elected by voters statewide for a four-year term, and a member of the Florida ...

. accessed 27 August 2010.

External links

Photos of ''Amphibulima patula'' from St. Kitts

* ( ttp://www.ashbreure.nl/snailblog/files/e2aeed6f615698dc632887e8a3e0581b-180.html Identification of the photo
Photo of ''Amphibulima patula dominicensis'' from Dominica

another photo
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4748216 Amphibulimidae Gastropods described in 1792