• Source: Littoraria scabra

Littoraria scabra, common name : the mangrove periwinkle, is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Littorinidae, the winkles or periwinkles.




Distribution and habitat


This species is distributed in the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean along Aldabra, Chagos, South Africa, Kenya, Madagascar, the Mascarene Basin, Mauritius, Mozambique, the Seychelles and Tanzania; in the Pacific Ocean along Hawaii and New Zealand. These snails live on rocky shores and on the mangroves.




Description


The size of an adult shell of Littoraria scabra varies between 15 mm and 40 mm. These shells are ovate-conical, without an umbilicus. The outer surface shows a spiral sculpture without nodules, with a pattern of irregular dark stripes. As in other bark-living snail species the shell color is brown. The mouth is rounded and the radula quite long, in order to adapt to the surface or the bark.




Biology


These snails are grazers on the roots, trunks, branches, and leaves of their host plants where they feed on zooplankton, bacteria, algae and mangrove tissues. These generalist herbivores daily vertically migrate along mangrove trees to avoid tidal submersion.




References






Bibliography


Barry Wilson – Australian Marine Shells Part 1
Deepak Apte – The Book of Indian Shells – Bombay Natural History Society, 1998
Hsi-Jen Tao – Shells of Taiwan Illustrated in Colour
Reid, D.G. (1986). The littorinid molluscs of mangrove forests in the Indo-Pacific region – British Museum (Natural History), London
Robert Tucker Abbott – Seashells of Southeast Asia – Graham Brash, 1991
Rosewater, J. 1970. The family Littorinidae in the Indo-Pacific. Part I. The subfamily Littorininae. – Indo-Pac. Moll.,2(11):417–506.
Rosewater, J. 1972. The family Littorinidae in the Indo-Pacific. Part II. The subfamilies Tectariinae and Echininae. Indo-Pac. Moll., 2(12):507–528

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Littoraria scabra
• Littoraria
• Melarhaphe
• Littoraria intermedia
• Vermes in the 10th edition of Systema Naturae
• List of marine gastropods of South Africa
• List of marine molluscs of Mozambique
• Buccinum
• Littoraria lutea
• Esmeraldas–Pacific Colombia mangroves