Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T17:52:31.099Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Biodiversity and habitats of reef molluscs of families Conidae and Conilithidae (Neogastropoda) off northern Roatan Island (Honduras)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2014

Anton E. Oleinik*
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL, 33431, USA
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: A.E. Oleinik, Department of Geosciences, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, Florida 33431, USA email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Five genera and eight species of gastropods of families Conidae and Conilithidae were observed in their natural habitats on the southernmost portion of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, off the northern coast of Roatan Island, Honduras. Fifty per cent of species are widespread Caribbean–western Atlantic species, whereas 50% are endemic to the Nicaraguan biogeographical subprovince and Roatan Island. Multiple sightings during night SCUBA diving operations revealed that the reef off northern Roatan supports a healthy and diverse population of conoidean gastropods. Distribution of all recorded species by depth and habitat type revealed a distinct reef partitioning between the 4 most commonly occurring species.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abbott, R.T. (1974) American seashells: the marine Mollusca of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America. 2nd edition. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 663 pp.Google Scholar
Aronson, R.B., MacIntyre, I.G., Precht, W.F., Murdoch, T.J.T. and Wapnick, C.M. (2002) The expanding scale of species turnover events on coral reefs in Belize. Ecological Monographs 72, 233249.Google Scholar
Aronson, R.B., Precht, W.F., MacIntyre, I.G. and Murdoch, T.J.T. (2000) Coral bleach-out in Belize. Nature 405, 36.Google Scholar
Da Motta, A.J. (1987) A new Conus (Gastropoda: Conidae) species found in Honduras. La Conchiglia 9, 4144.Google Scholar
Ginsburg, R.N. (ed.) (1994) Proceedings of the colloquium on global aspects of coral reefs: health, hazards, and history, 1993. Miami, FL: Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami.Google Scholar
Hughes, T.P. (1994) Catastrophes, phase shifts, and large-scale degradation of a Caribbean coral reef. Science 265, 15471551.Google Scholar
Kantor, Y.I. and Taylor, J.D. (2000) Formation of marginal radular teeth in Conoidea (Neogastropoda) and the evolution of the hypodermic envenomination mechanism. Journal of Zoology 252, 251262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacIntyre, I.G. (1988) Modern coral reefs of the western Atlantic: new geological perspective. American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 72, 13601369.Google Scholar
MacIntyre, I.G., Glynn, P.W. and Toscano, M.A. (2007) The demise of a major Acropora palmata bank–barrier reef off the southeast coast of Barbados, West Indies. Coral Reefs 26, 765773 Google Scholar
Petuch, E.J. (1980) A new Falsilyria (Volutidae) and new Conus (Conidae) from Roatan Island, Honduras (Atlantic). Nautilus 94, 115118. [Stated date: 30 July 1980.]Google Scholar
Petuch, E.J. (1987) New Caribbean molluscan faunas. Charlottesville, VA: Coastal Education & Research Foundation, 154 pp.Google Scholar
Petuch, E.J. (2013) Biogeography and biodiversity of western Atlantic mollusks. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 234 pp.Google Scholar
Petuch, E.J. and Sargent, D.M. (2011) New species of Conidae and Conilithidae (Gastropoda) from the tropical Americas and Philippines, with notes on some poorly-known Floridian species. Visaya 3, 3750.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, G. (2009) Malacolog 4.1.1: a database of western Atlantic marine Mollusca. [WWW database (version 4.1.1)] Available at: http://www.malacolog.org/ (accessed 5 November 2013).Google Scholar
Tucker, J.K. and Tenorio, M.J. (2009) Systematic classification of Recent and fossil conoidean gastropods. Hackenheim, Germany: ConchBooks, 296 pp.Google Scholar