Ctenophila aigretteianum
| Ctenophila aigretteianum | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Ctenophila aigretteianum | ||||||||||||
| Griffiths , 2000 |
Ctenophila aigretteianum is an extinct land snail species that was endemic to the Île aux Aigrettes off Mauritius . The subfossil material was discovered in 1989 by Carl G. Jones and Owen Lee Griffiths in the Limekiln Cave on the Île aux Aigrettes and scientifically described by Griffiths in 2000.
features
The holotype of Ctenophila aigretteianum has a case height of 1.55 mm and a case diameter of 2.4 mm. The disc-shaped, flattened housing is bright glossy white. The four turns are regularly raised. The seam is slightly indented. The oval mouth is pressed and is located slightly below the housing level. The umbilicus (navel) is very wide. The outer lip of the mouth is thin, sharp and not turned over, except on the lower part of the spindle (columella), where it is turned over slightly to the outside. There are two smooth embryonic turns. The subsequent turns have irregular growth lines, which often protrude above the seam and on the edge of the housing.
Ctenophila aigretteianum resembles the recent species Ctenophila vorticella from the island of Réunion in the housing structure and in the housing shape. However, Ctenophila vorticella has very protruding radial ribs on the top and bottom of the case. In subfossil specimens of Ctenophila vorticella that no longer have a periostracum , these radial ribs are retained, but in Ctenophila aigretteianum they are completely absent.
status
The limestone rubble in which the type material (20 adult and sub-adult cases) was found is dated to an age of 5,000 to 15,000 years BP . This suggests that Ctenophila aigretteianum died out before the arrival of humans on the Mascarene Mountains. This species is not known from Mauritius itself and no living specimens have ever been found.
literature
- Owen Lee Griffiths: Nine new species of Mascarene land snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda) , Molluscan Research, Volume 20, 2000, pp. 37-50