File:Scaphella junonia (Juno's volute snails) 3 (27734127951).jpg

Scaphella junonia (Lamarck, 1804) - Juno's volute snails (abapertural view) from Florida, USA. (public display, Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, Sanibel Island, Florida, USA)

The gastropods (snails & slugs) are a group of molluscs that occupy marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments. Most gastropods have a calcareous external shell (the snails). Some lack a shell completely, or have reduced internal shells (the slugs & sea slugs & pteropods). Most members of the Gastropoda are marine. Most marine snails are herbivores (algae grazers) or predators/carnivores.

Info. from Witherington & Witherington (2007): "Junonias (Scaphella junonia) have unmistakably flamboyant shells with squared, chestnut spots on a background of pinkish ivory. They have a wide aperture and rounded whorls that spin into a distinct spire with a rounded apex. Junonias live on offshore reefs.

Junonia shells are a rare find but they inspire a common quest. Because Florida is the hotspot for this rare and spectacular shell, junonias receive much attention, especially from visitors to Sanibel where, island-wide, roughly one junonia per day is found. Like their shell, the soft parts of the living junonia are covered with spots. Junonias are predators of bivalves."

Museum-provided info.: "The treasured junonia, rarely cast ashore on Sanibel beaches, lives far offshore in great numbers. A member of the volute family, Scaphella junonia (Lamarck) takes about 5 years to reach adult size. It ranges from off North Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico."

Classification: Animalia, Mollusca, Gastropoda, Neogastropoda, Volutidae

Locality: Sanibel Island, southwestern Florida, USA

More info. at: