BIO 203

Interesting Facts

The Blue Glass snail is a unique snail with a several close relatives. One relative is Nesovitrea dalliana. The common name of Nesovitrea dalliana is the Depressed Glass snail. Another realative is Nesovitrea electrina which is often referred to as the Amber Glass snail (Kralka, 1986). More information about the Amber Glass snail can be found on this website by looking at my classmates' webpage. Other relatives include Nesovitrea suzannae (Live Oak Glass), Nesovitrea hammonis, Nesovitrea hawaiiensis, and a few others.

 

As you already know, snails belong to the class Gastropoda, but do you know how Gastropoda received its name? The name originates from the Greek gaster (belly) and podos (foot), making snails the "belly-footed" animals (Martin, 2000).

 

The genus name Nesovitrea comes from "Neso" meaning island, referring to the Hawaiian Islands and "Vitrea", a European genus of snails (Royal British Columbia Museum, 2002). The species is named after an American malacologist, William G. Binney (Royal British Columbia Museum, 2002).