Pleurodonte nigrescens
Encyclopedia
Pleurodonte nigrescens is a species
of tropical air-breathing land snail
, a pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Pleurodontidae
.
. The shell
can be chesnut-brown with fine axial lines or purple-black with a purple aperture.
This species appears to prefer relatively undisturbed habitats, especially in rain forest at higher altitudes in Dominica.
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...
.
Distribution
Distribution of Pleurodonte nigrescens include:Distribution
Pleurodonte nigrescens differs from all other Dominican Pleurodonte species by the characteristic parietal tooth opposite the basal teeth in the apertureAperture (mollusc)
The aperture is an opening in certain kinds of mollusc shells: it is the main opening of the shell, where part of the body of the animal emerges for locomotion, feeding, etc....
. The shell
Gastropod shell
The gastropod shell is a shell which is part of the body of a gastropod or snail, one kind of mollusc. The gastropod shell is an external skeleton or exoskeleton, which serves not only for muscle attachment, but also for protection from predators and from mechanical damage...
can be chesnut-brown with fine axial lines or purple-black with a purple aperture.
Ecology
Pleurodonte nigrescens lives in damp leaf litter on the forest floor.This species appears to prefer relatively undisturbed habitats, especially in rain forest at higher altitudes in Dominica.