Coffee Bean Snail Shell, Melampus coffea
Coffee Bean Snail Shell, Melampus coffea. Shell collected of beach Akumal, Quintana Roo, March 2007. Size 1.0 cm (0.4 inches) x 0 .6 cm (0.2 inches). Collection, photographs and identification courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.
Phylogeny: The Coffee Bean Snail, Melampus Coffea (Linnaeus, 1758) is a Gastropod Mollusk in the Ellobiidae Family of Hollow-shelled Snails or Air Breathing Snails. The genus Melampus is one of nineteen genera in this family, and there are fifty-four species in this genus. These snails are pulmonate mollusks (superorder Eupulmonata), meaning that they have traded their gills for primitive lung-type organs. They are an in-between stage between marine snails and land snails.
Description: Coffee Bean Snail Shells are small and thin, but sturdy. They are egg-shaped, with a low spire, and consist of four or five whorls. The aperture is long. The outer lip of the aperture is thin and crenulate on the inside. There are two folds on the columella. Coffee Bean Snails are light to dark brown in color, usually with a cream colored band spiraling the length of the shell. The columella is white. Coffee Bean Snail Shells reach a maximum of 2.3 cm (0.9 inches) in length.
Habitat and Distribution: Coffee Bean Snails are generally found in saltmarshes, mangrove forests, and around sea grasses. They migrate with the tides from the muddy substrate up into the vegetation in order to avoid submersion and aquatic predators. Therefore they are found at the upper limits of the intertidal zone. They are a subtropical to tropical Western Atlantic species that are found in Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean from Tampico, Tamaulipas to Belize. Some sources extend their range to the entire east coast of Mexico.
Ecology and Behavior: Coffee Bean Snails are detritovores that feed primarily on decaying plant matter. They are simultaneous hermaphrodites and reproduce sexually, with internal fertilization. They are known to host endoparasitic nematodes and trematodes. Any types of commensal or symbiotic relationships has not been documented. From a conservation perspective the Coffee Bean Snail is considered to be of Least Concern.
Synonyms: Auricula biplicata, Auricula coniformis, Auricula olivula, Bulimus coniformis, Bulla coffea, Ellobium barbadense, Melampus (Tralia) olivula, Melampus coffea microspira, Melampus coffeus, Melampus coniformis, Melampus microspira, and Voluta coffea.