Cerithideopsis californica

Cerithideopsis californica
A shell of Cerithideopsis californica
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Caenogastropoda
clade Sorbeoconcha
Superfamily: Cerithioidea
Family: Potamididae
Genus: Cerithideopsis
Species: C. californica
Binomial name
Cerithideopsis californica
(Haldeman, 1840)[1]
Synonyms
  • Cerithium (Potamis) californicum Haldeman, 1840 (original combination)
  • Cerithidea albonodosa Gould & Carpenter, 1857
  • Cerithidea californica (Haldeman, 1840)
  • Cerithidea fuscata Gould, 1857
  • Cerithidea mazatlanica (H. F. Carpenter, 1857)
  • Cerithidea pullata A. A. Gould, 1856
  • Cerithidea valida (C. B. Adams, 1852)

Cerithideopsis californica, common name the California hornsnail[2] or the California horn snail,[3] is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Potamididae.[4] This series was previously known as Cerithidea californica.

Distribution

The distribution of Cerithideopsis californica is from central California, USA to Baja California Sur, Mexico.[3]

The type locality is "California, in brackish water".[1]

Description

The shape of the shell is turriform and is about 1 inch (25 mm) in length.[1]

Ecology

Cerithideopsis californica lives in salt-marsh dominated estuaries.[3]

The snails primarily feed on benthic diatoms.[3]

Throughout its range in California, these snails grow and reproduce from spring through fall (March–October) and cease growth and reproduction during the winter (November–February).[3] Maximum longevity for these snails is at least 6–10 years, and this appears to be the case for uninfected as well as infected snails.[3]

At least 18 trematode species parasitically castrate California horn snails.[3] A trematode infects a snail with a miracidium larva that either swims to infect the snail, or hatches after the snail ingests the trematode egg.[3] After infection, the trematode parthenitae clonally replicate and produce free-swimming offspring (cercariae).[3] These offspring infect second intermediate hosts (various invertebrates and fishes) where they form cysts (metacercariae).[3] The trematodes infect bird final hosts when birds eat second intermediate hosts.[3]

California horn snails are common in the Morro Bay estuary of California

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from the reference[3]

  1. 1 2 3 Haldeman S. S. (1840). A monograph of the Limniades and other freshwater univalve shells of North America. number 1, Philadelphia, J. Dobson. an unnumbered page.
  2. ↑ "Cerithidea californica (Haldeman, 1840)". ITIS, accessed 10 February 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Hechinger R. F. (2010). "Mortality affects adaptive allocation to growth and reproduction: field evidence from a guild of body snatchers". BMC Evolutionary Biology 10: 136. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-136.
  4. ↑ Bouchet, P. (2014). Cerithideopsis californica (Haldeman, 1840). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=758597 on 2014-03-20

Further reading

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