Hydatina albocincta (van der Hoeven, 1839)

Description

A small shelled cephalaspidean reaching about 30 mm in shell length. The shell is egg-shaped with a white background and densely covered by numerous fine brown longitudinal lines, broken by a few broad white spiral bands. The animal is semi-transparent buff-white, and the mantle edge is white and undulating.

Distribution

Originally described from Indo-West Pacific material. Subsequently recorded across the Indo-West Pacific, including Japan, the Philippines, New South Wales (Australia), New Zealand, Hawaii, and South Africa.

Etymology

The specific epithet albocincta combines the Latin albus ("white") and cinctus ("girdled" or "banded"), referring to the white spiral bands on the shell.

Remarks

A small bubble snail of the family Aplustridae. The genus Hydatina remains taxonomically unsettled due to extensive colour polymorphism and historical misidentifications; the species limits within the genus are still being revised.

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References

• Bulla albocincta n. sp., Hoeven J. van der (1839). Bijdragen tot de kennis van de Bulla-soorten van het geslacht Hydatina. Tijdschrift voor Natuurlijke Geschiedenis en Physiologie. 6: 245-247.
• ヤカタガイ Hydatina albocincta (van der Hoeven, 1811), 奥谷喬司. (2000). 日本近海産貝類図鑑. 東海大学出版会.
• Hydatina albocincta, Tibiriçá Y. & Malaquias M.A.E. (2017). The bubble snails (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia) of Mozambique: an overlooked biodiversity hotspot. Marine Biodiversity. 47(3): 791-811. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-016-0500-7