Pleurodonte guadeloupensis
Encyclopedia
Pleurodonte guadeloupensis is a species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of tropical air-breathing land snail
Land snail
A land snail is any of the many species of snail that live on land, as opposed to those that live in salt water and fresh water. Land snails are terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells, It is not always an easy matter to say which species are terrestrial, because some are more or less...

, a pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Pleurodontidae
Pleurodontidae
Pleurodontidae is a family of air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Helicoidea.This family is classified within the clade Stylommatophora within the clade Eupulmonata...

.

Subspecies

  • Pleurodonte guadeloupensis dominicana Pilsbry
    Henry Augustus Pilsbry
    Henry Augustus Pilsbry was an American biologist, malacologist and carcinologist, among other areas of study. He was a dominant presence in many fields of invertebrate taxonomy for the better part of a century...

     & Cockerell
    Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell
    Theodore Dru Alison Cockerell was an American zoologist, born at Norwood, England, and brother of Sydney Cockerell. He was educated at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, and then studied botany in the field in Colorado in 1887-90...

    , 1937 - This subspecies is endemic to Dominica.

Description

It is the smallest Pleurodonte species of the Dominica and has a velvety periostracum
Periostracum
The periostracum is a thin organic coating or "skin" which is the outermost layer of the shell of many shelled animals, including mollusks and brachiopods. Among mollusks it is primarily seen in snails and clams, i.e. in bivalves and gastropods, but it is also found in cephalopods such as the...

 on the shell surface.

Distribution

Distribution of Pleurodonte guadeloupensis include:

Ecology

This species is widespread on the Dominica and may be found in disturbed habitats and agricultural areas.
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