CUBAlSr SUBFAMILY CHONDROPOMINAE TORRE AND BARTSCH 311 



CHONDROTHYRELLA (PLICATHYRELLA) CLAUDICANS (Poey) 



Shell small, very broadly ovate, when truncated almost subglobular, 

 varying in color from horn-color through orange to brown, unicolor 

 or interruptedly spirally banded. The first portion of the nucleus is 

 blackish brown, the rest much lighter. Peristome pale yellow. Nu- 

 clear whorls about 2, inflated, strongly rounded, smooth except for 

 microscopic granules. Postnuclear whorls decidedly inflated, gib- 

 bose, strongly rounded, marked by retractively curved, axial riblets, 

 which vary in strength from threads to low lamellae. The spiral 

 sculpture also consists of threads, which vary considerably in strength, 

 numbers, and spacing in the different races and also in the way they 

 render the axial riblets wavy and nodulose at their junction. The 

 axial riblets continue over the inflated periphery and base of the last 

 whorl into the umbilicus undiminished ; the spiral threads, however, 

 become stronger and more distantly spaced in most of the races on 

 the anterior half of the base and in the umbilicus. Aperture very 

 broadly ovate; peristome double, the outer broad, flaringly expanded; 

 on the inner lip posterior to the fold almost triple the width of that 

 of the outer lip. The outer peristome is radially fluted and marked 

 with concentric, thin lamellae. The inner peristome is narrow, 

 slightly exserted and reflected. The operculum is thin and reddish, 

 has an excentric nucleus, and is covered by a deposit of minute cal- 

 careous granules. 



Of the animal C. (P.) claudicams clavdicans Gundlach is quoted 

 by Pfeiffer as saying ^ : "Animal pale gray with lighter dots ; on the 

 edge of the side of the snout a dark spot is present. Tentacles of 

 orange color with a clay yellow suffusion of coral-red with brownish 

 lip." Here he also quotes Poey as sajnng that the animal with an 

 alternate lateral motion, resting now on the right side of the foot, 

 then on the left. When at rest it suspends itself by a mucous thread. 



This species we found hj^bridizing with ChondrothyreJla {Chondro- 

 thyrella) perturbafa in the gorge of the Rio Taco Taco. 



KEY TO THE SUBSPECIES OF CHONDROTHYRELLA (PLICATHYRELLA) CLAUDICANS 



Sculpture consisting of rather sliarp cusps claudicans 



Sculpture consisting of small nodules culminis 



CHONDROTHYRELLA (PLICATHYRELLA) CLAUDICANS CLAUDICANS (Poey) 



Plate 27, Figure 4 



1851. Cyclostoma claudicans Poey, Memorias sobre la historia natural de la 



Isla de Cuba, pp. 100-106, 444-446, 454, pi. 7, figs. 8-11. 



1852. Chondropoma claudicans Pfeiffer, Monographia pneumonopomorum viven- 



tium, vol. 1, pp. 295-296 (in part). 

 1920. Chondrothyra (Chondrothyretes) claudicans Henderson and Baetsch, 

 Proc. U, S. Nat. Mus., vol. 58, p. 64. 



• Malakozool. Blatter, vol. 3, p. 135, 1856. 



