Cavolinia inflexa (Lesueur, 1813)

Description

A small pteropod with a calcareous, transparent shell about 8 mm long. The shell is not inflated, dorso-ventrally compressed, and bilaterally symmetrical in triangular outline. The posterior margin bears three sharp processes, with the median one long and recurved. The dorso-ventral "eaves" are straight and spatulate rather than recurved. The protoconch is brown. The soft body is also transparent, with elongate tentacle-like organs; the foot is modified into wing-like swimming lobes (parapodia), and the species spends its entire life in the open water.

Distribution

The original description (Lesueur, 1813) was based on specimens collected in the Mediterranean Sea near Nice. Habe (1961) and Okutani (ed.) 2000 (Marine Mollusks in Japan) record the species from temperate to tropical waters of the world's oceans. The form occurring in Japanese waters is Cavolinia inflexa f. labiata (Orbigny, 1836).

Etymology

The specific epithet inflexa is the feminine past participle of Latin inflectere ("to bend inward"), referring to the recurved median posterior process of the shell.

Remarks

Originally described as Hyalaea inflexa Lesueur, 1813, in a memoir on new molluscan and radiarian species collected from the Mediterranean near Nice. Habe (1961) also lists an alternate Japanese name, "Omage-kamegai".

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References

• Hyalaea inflexa n. sp., Lesueur C.A. (1813). Mémoire sur quelques nouvelles espèces d'animaux mollusques et radiaires recueillis dans la Méditerranée près de Nice. Nouveau Bulletin des Sciences, par la Société Philomatique de Paris. (2) 3(69): 281-285, pl. 5.
• マサコカメガイ (オマゲカメガイ) Cavolina inflexa (LESUEUR), 波部忠重. (1961). 続原色日本貝類図鑑. 保育社, 大阪. xii + 183 + 42 pp., 66 pls. [Habe T. (1961). Coloured illustrations of the shells of Japan (II). Hoikusha, Osaka.]
• マサコカメガイ Cavolinia inflexa (Lesueur, 1813), 奥谷喬司. (2000). 日本近海産貝類図鑑. 東海大学出版会.