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Scaphella junonia

{{Short description|Species of gastropod}}

{{About|the snail|the Roman colony|Colonia Junonia|the genus of butterfly|Junonia}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2017}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Scaphella junonia.jpg

| image_caption = A shell of Scaphella junonia trawled by a shrimp boat off of the SW coast of Florida

| taxon = Scaphella junonia

| authority = (Lamarck, 1804)

| synonyms =

  • Voluta junonia Lamarck, 1804
  • Aurinia junonia Lamarck, 1804
  • Scapha junonia Lamarck, 1804
  • Maculopeplum junonia Lamarck, 1804
  • Scaphella butleri Clench, 1953
  • Scaphella johnstoneae Clench, 1953
  • Scaphella capelettii Petuch, 1994

| synonyms_ref = {{cite web|url=http://www.malacolog.org/search.php?nameid=5641|title=Malacolog 4.1.1: A Database of Western Atlantic Marine Mollusca|last=Rosenberg|first=G.|year=2009|work=Scaphella junonia (Lamarck, 1804)|accessdate=7 April 2010}}

}}

Scaphella junonia, common names the junonia, or Juno's volute,{{cite book

| title = Shell Album

| author = Helen S. O'Brien.

| year = 1953

| page = [https://archive.org/details/shellalbumtextdi00obri/page/10 10]

| url = https://archive.org/details/shellalbumtextdi00obri

| publisher = O'Brien Color Studio

| location = Fort Myers, Florida

}} is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Volutidae, the volutes.

This species lives in water from 29 m to 126 m depth in the tropical Western Atlantic. Because of its deepwater habitat, the shell usually only washes up onto beaches after strong storms, or hurricanes.

The species is named after the ancient Roman goddess Juno.

Distribution

Scaphella junonia is found throughout Florida to Texas and the Gulf of Mexico.{{WRMS species|383288|Scaphella junonia (Lamarck, 1804)||7 April 2010}}

  • A subspecies, Scaphella junonia johnstoneae, is found off of Alabama and is the state shell of that state.{{cite web | url = http://www.archives.state.al.us/emblems/st_shell.html | title =Alabama Shell |work=Official Symbols and Emblems of Alabama | accessdate =2019-05-07 | date=February 6, 2014 | publisher = Alabama Department of Archives and History }} It is named for Kathleen Yerger Johnstone, an amateur conchologist from Alabama who published two books on seashell collecting.{{Cite news |last=Bruer |first=Frank |date=1990-01-11 |title=Mobile senator makes push to get an official state shell |pages=1 |work=Birmingham Post-Herald |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-mobile-senator-ma/126005744/ |access-date=2023-06-07 |via=Newspapers.com}}
  • Another subspecies, Scaphella junonia butleri, is found off of the Yucatan.

Shell description

The largest recorded shell of Scaphella junonia is 154 mm in length.{{cite web | url = https://oceansreach.com/worlds-largest-junonia | title =World's Largest Junonia | accessdate =2021-08-25 | date=August 11, 2017 }} The shell is cream in color with about 12 spiral rows of somewhat squarish brown dots. The large protoconch is tan. The aperture of the shell is almost 3/4 of the length of the shell.

Human relevance

File:Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum, Junonia exhibit.JPG on Sanibel, Florida shows a growth series of this species.]]

The shell was historically greatly prized for its beauty and apparent rarity. It is however commonly taken (accidentally as bycatch) from deeper water during commercial trawling by shrimp fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico. This source provides plenty of specimens for the shell trade, and so the price of a specimen shell is relatively low. However, the shell is still very hard to find naturally cast up on beaches, so people who find a junonia while shelling on Sanibel Island, Florida, often get their picture in the local newspapers.{{cn|date=April 2024}}

References

;Citations

{{Reflist}}

;Bibliography

  • [http://www.conchologistsofamerica.org/articles/y1997/9706_dance.asp Conchologists of America, Peter Dance article on this species]
  • Rosenberg, G. 1992. Encyclopedia of Seashells. Dorset: New York. 224 pp. page(s): 99
  • Bail, P & Poppe, G. T. 2001. A conchological iconography: a taxonomic introduction of the recent Volutidae. Hackenheim-Conchbook, 30 pp, 5 pl.
  • Rosenberg, G., F. Moretzsohn, and E. F. García. 2009. Gastropoda (Mollusca) of the Gulf of Mexico, Pp. 579–699 in Felder, D.L. and D.K. Camp (eds.), Gulf of Mexico–Origins, Waters, and Biota. Biodiversity. Texas A&M Press, College Station, Texas.

Further reading

{{Commons category|Scaphella junonia}}

  • {{cite book

| title = Rare Shells

| author = S. Peter Dance

| year = 1969

| publisher = University of California Press

| location = Berkeley and Los Angeles

}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q3172902}}

Category:Volutidae

Category:Gastropods described in 1804

Category:Symbols of Alabama