Salinator fragilis Lamarck 1822
Creators: name: Golding, Rosemary E.
name: Ponder, Winston F.
name: Byrne, Maria
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Amphibolidae
Salinator
Salinator fragilis

description: Salinator fragilis (Lamarck, 1822)
Ampullaria fragilis Lamarck, 1822: 179.
Ampullacera fragilis; Quoy & Gaimard 1832: 201, pl. XV, figs. 10–16. Ampullarina fragilis; Angas 1867: 232.
Amphibola fragilis; Schacko 1878: 4, pl. I, fig. 2.
Salinator fragilis; Hedley 1900: 511; Hubendick 1945: 107, fig. 5; Smythe 1975 (in part): 336, figs. 1–4.
Type material: Lectotype (Fig. 2 B) (photographs examined only) from Australia, Western Australia: King George Sound (exact location unknown), pre 1822, Péron, (MHN 1094/1).
Other material examined: Australia, Western Australia: Mandurah, Peel Inlet, on mud under saltmarsh vegetation, 17 Jul 2004, R.E. Golding and J. Studdert (AMS C.446487); Bunbury, Mangrove Cove, 17 Jul 2004, R.E. Golding and J. Studdert (AMS C.446488); King George Sound, Oyster Harbour, in tidal pools and saltmarsh vegetation, 19 Jul 2004, R.E. Golding and J. Studdert (AMS C.446489); King George Sound, King River, 19 Jul 2004, R.E. Golding and J. Studdert (AMS C.446486). Australia, South Australia: Kangaroo Island, Pelican Lagoon, seine netted on very sheltered muddy grass flat, 8 Mar 1978, D. Hoese (AMS C.401112). Australia, Victoria: Port Phillip, Swan Bay, on upper part of sandy muddy flats, 18 Sep 1973, W.F. Ponder and R. Burn (AMS C.401519). Australia, Tasmania: Sandford, Ralph’s Bay, on Zostera flats, 29 March 1970, W.F. Ponder (AMS C.401095); Barilla Bay, Cambridge, on wide tidal sandflat, 10 Jul 2004, R.E. Golding and F. Mazzone (AMS C.442291).
Redescription: Shell (Figs. 2 B–D): Opaque, spire moderately tall, diameter to 13 mm, Last whorl lacking obvious shoulder, spire moderately tall. Axial growth striae obvious in some specimens, exterior of shell slightly rough, or with dull appearance. Light brown to grey, sometimes light purple; patterning, if present, one to five thin, spiral, brown bands.
Operculum (Fig. 3 B): Entirely corneous, pale yellow, elliptical with eccentric nucleus and paucispiral striae. Nucleus on inner surface lacking raised patterning.
External morphology: Anterior foot grey in fresh and formalin-preserved specimens, protruding well beyond shell when animal crawling. Head grey, black pigment in diffuse stripe on centre of snout. Mantle entirely black on dorsal surface.
Mantle organs (Fig. 7 B): Roof of mantle cavity with few blood vessels; opposed ciliary tracts raised, running on right side of mantle cavity for full length. Hypobranchial gland on anterior right mantle roof small, circular to oval, yellow in fresh and formalin-preserved specimens, flat, outer surface smooth or slightly folded.
Digestive system: As for A. crenata, but proportionally smaller.
Radula (Figs. 9 A, B): Each row with central tooth, pair of inner lateral and outer lateral teeth and, on each side, approximately 25 marginal teeth. Central tooth with 13 narrow cusps with rounded tips, mesocone enlarged and elongate, adjacent cusps reduced, other cusps decreasing in length towards outer edge of tooth. Inner lateral tooth narrow, with two small cusps. Outer lateral tooth wide, with three broad cusps decreasing in length towards outer edge of tooth. Marginal teeth very long, unicuspid, narrow, slightly curved, approximately 25 on each side of radula.
Central nervous system (Fig. 12 B): Pleural and cerebral ganglia fused, large, joined by thick cerebral commissure and narrow subcerebral commissure; pedal ganglia smaller than cerebral-pleural ganglia, joined by short pedal connective and equally short parapedal commissure. Connective between cerebral-pleural and parietal connectives relatively thick, right longer than left. Visceral loop moderately long; visceral ganglion large, closer to right than left parietal ganglion.
Reproductive system (Fig. 14 A): Ovotestis, oviductal and albumen glands as for A. crenata. Upper hermaphrodite duct straight, with seminal vesicle a large diverticulum. Seminal receptacle small, elliptical, pigmented; containing sperm orientated towards walls of structure; opening via a short duct to carrefour. Spermoviduct running straight through right body wall distally, leading to hairpin fold in cephalic region before junction with proximal end of spermovipositor. Prostatic gland long, thin, blind-ending tube lined for entire length with large secretory cells. Spermovipositor large, short, aperture bearing large, circular, flared plate, edges curled; large, hook-shaped extension on left. Microsculpture small, conical projections on edges of terminal aperture. Spermovipositor sheath relatively thick, highly folded, with single pocket at right base of spermovipositor.
Distribution and habitat (Fig. 1): Southern Australia from Perth, Western Australia to Port Phillip, Victoria and also known from southern Tasmania. Found on sandy mudflats and estuarine saltmarsh, often buried in sandy mud at high tide or in permanent pools and sometimes present at high densities.
Remarks: Lamarck’s (1822) description of Ampullaria fragilis was based upon material collected by Péron, but no location was given. A later account by Quoy & Gaimard (1832) gives the type locality as King George Sound, West Australia. Two shells from Lamarck’s collection are held in the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle, Geneva (1094/1, 2). Smythe (1975) selected one of these as a lectotype (Fig. 2 B). Quoy & Gaimard’s (1832) figures of S. fragilis agree with our description, except that the pattern of pigmentation on the head (circles around the tentacles) does not agree with our specimens.
Salinator fragilis has previously been recorded as having a wide Indo-Pacific distribution from the United Arab Emirates (Smythe 1975) to southern Australia. However, this study demonstrates that the distribution is restricted to the southern coast of Australia and Tasmania. Previous descriptions of S. fragilis based on material from beyond this limited distribution therefore refer to other taxa. The only available material from Oman was examined, but was not reproductively mature and is not described herein. However, sufficient details were evident to indicate that these specimens were specifically distinct from S. fragilis based on their small size (shell diameter to 4 mm), and represent an apparently unnamed taxon.
description: Published as part of Golding, Rosemary E., Ponder, Winston F. & Byrne, Maria, 2007, Taxonomy and anatomy of Amphiboloidea (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia: Archaeopulmonata), pp. 1-50 in Zootaxa 1476 on pages 10-11, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.176773