''Neverita lewisii'' (previously known as ''Polinices lewisii'', ''Lunatia lewisii'', ''Euspira lewisii''),

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

Lewis's moon snail, is a species of large operculated

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

. It is a predatory

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

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 ...

in the family Naticidae, the moon snails.Bouchet, P. (2012). Lunatia lewisii (Gould, 1847). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=584785 on 2012-08-16 Traditionally, this species was assigned to either the genus ''

Lunatia ''Lunatia'' is a genus of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Naticidae, the moon snails.Bouchet, P. (2012). Lunatia. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxde ...

'', the genus ''

Polinices ''Polinices'' is a genus of predatory sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the subfamily Polinicinae of the family Naticidae, commonly known as moon snails.Bouchet, P. (2011). Polinices Montfort, 1810. Accessed through: World Register of ...

'' or the genus '' Euspira''. Recently, it was assigned to the genus '' Neverita'' based on molecular data.Huelsken, T., Tapken, D., Dahlmann, T., Wägele, H., Riginos, C., Hollmann, M. (2012). Systematics and phylogenetic species delimitation within Polinices s.l. (Caenogastropoda: Naticidae) based on molecular data and shell morphology. Organisms Diversity & Evolution. DOI
10.1007/s13127-012-0111-5
This is the largest species in the family.

Distribution

''Neverita lewisii'' lives in the Eastern Pacific, from British Columbia to northern Baja California, Mexico. Euspira lewisii 2

Habitat

This snail is found intertidally and at depths of up to , usually ploughing through the

substrate Substrate may refer to: Physical layers *Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached ** Substrate (locomotion), the surface over which an organism lo ...

looking for prey.

Description

The shell of this species can grow to across, the largest of the moon snails. It has an extremely large

foot The foot ( : feet) is an anatomical structure found in many vertebrates. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made ...

, which when the snail is active, is extended up over the shell and

mantle A mantle is a piece of clothing, a type of cloak. Several other meanings are derived from that. Mantle may refer to: *Mantle (clothing), a cloak-like garment worn mainly by women as fashionable outerwear **Mantle (vesture), an Eastern Orthodox ve ...

cavity. Part of the

propodium The propodeum or propodium is the first abdominal segment in Apocrita Hymenoptera ( wasps, bees and ants). It is fused with the thorax to form the mesosoma. It is a single large sclerite, not subdivided, and bears a pair of spiracles. It is st ...

contains a black-tipped siphon which leads water into the mantle cavity. The cephalic tentacles, located on its

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

, are usually visible above the propodium. When the animal retracts its soft parts into the shell, a lot of water is expelled, thus it is possible to close the shell with its tight-fitting operculum.

Diet

''Neverita lewisii'' feeds mainly on

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

mollusc 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 esti ...

s by drilling a hole in the shell with its

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 ...

and feeding on the organism's soft flesh.

Reproduction

Like other moon snails, this species lays its eggs in a "

sand collar Sand collars are the characteristic egg masses of one family of sea snails, the moon snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Naticidae. These egg masses are often found washed up either whole, or sometimes in fragments, on sandy beaches ...

". The eggs may number in the thousands and hatch into microscopic larvae which feed on plankton until they undergo torsion and metamorphose into the adult stage.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13895385 Naticidae Gastropods described in 1847