Aliger gallus

Distribution

This species is found from southeast Florida and Bermuda through the West Indies and south to Brazil.

Description

The average shell length of this species is about 12.5 cm.

The maximum recorded shell length is 197 mm.

Habitat

The minimum recorded depth for this species is 0.3 m.; the maximum recorded depth is 82 m.

Phylogeny

The phylogenetic relationships among the Strombidae have been mainly accessed on two occasions, by Simone (2005) and Latiolais (2006),

With the exception of Lambis and Terebellum, the remaining taxa were previously allocated within the genus Strombus, including L. gallus. However, according to Simone, only Strombus gracilior, Strombus alatus and Strombus pugilis, the type species, remained within Strombus, as they constituted a distinct group based on at least five synapomorphies (traits that are shared by two or more taxa and their most recent common ancestor). The remaining taxa were previously considered as subgenera, and were elevated to genus level by Simone in the end of his analysis. The genus Aliger (now considered a synonym of Lobatus), in this case, included Aliger gallus (now considered a synonym of Lobatus gallus) and Aliger costatus (= Lobatus costatus), which were thus considered closely related.

In a different approach, Latiolais and colleagues (2006) proposed another cladogram that attempts to show the phylogenetic relationships of 34 species within the family Strombidae. The authors analysed 31 species in the genus Strombus includingLobatus gallus (there referred to as Strombus gallus), and three species in the allied genus Lambis. The cladogram was based on DNA sequences of both nuclear histone H3 and mitochondrial cytochrome-c oxidase I (COI) protein-coding gene regions. In this proposed phylogeny, Strombus gigas (= Lobatus gigas) and Strombus gallus are closely related and appear to share a common ancestor.

References

References

1. Dance P. S. (1977). ''The Encyclopedia of Shells''. Blandford Press, Dorset. 82-83. {{ISBN. 0-7137-0698-8.
2. MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Aliger gallus (Linnaeus, 1758). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=419692 on 2020-04-02
3. Abbott, R. T.; Dance, S. P. (2000). ''Compendium of Seashells''. Odyssey Publishing, California. p. 76. {{ISBN. 0-9661720-0-0
4. Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". ''[[PLOS One]]'' '''5'''(1): e8776. {{doi. 10.1371/journal.pone.0008776
5. Simone, L. R. L.. (2005). "Comparative morphological study of representatives of the three families of Stromboidea and the Xenophoroidea (Mollusca, Caenogastropoda), with an assessment of their phylogeny". Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo.
6. {{WRMS species. 531665. ''Lobatus'' Swainson, 1837. 5 December 2012
7. Latiolais J. M., Taylor M. S., Roy K. & Hellberg M. E. (2006). "A molecular phylogenetic analysis of strombid gastropod morphological diversity". ''[[Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution]]'' '''41''': 436–444. {{doi. 10.1016/j.ympev.2006.05.027. [http://biology.ucsd.edu/labs/roy/PDFs/Latiolais%20et%20al.%202006%20Mol.%20Phyl.%20&%20Evol.pdf PDF].