Cuming’s Jingle Shell, Placunanomia cumingii

Cuming’s Jingle Shell, Placunanomia cumingii. Size: 9.0 cm (3.5 inches) x 5.2 cm (2.0 inches). Shell collected in the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, May 2018. Collection, photograph and identification courtesy of Bob Hillis, Ivins, Utah.

Phylogeny: Cuming’s Jingle Shell, Placunanomia cumingii (Broderip, 1832), is a bivalve mollusk that is a member of the Anomiidae Family of Jingle Shells. The genus Placunanomia is one of nine genera in this family, and there are two species in this genus. This species was named in honor of Hugh Cuming, a British natural historian and 1800s collector known as the Prince of Collectors. He amassed a shell collection of over 80,000 specimens and 100,000 dried plant specimens. He collected birds, plants, reptiles and shells from Chile, Mexico, the Indian Ocean, and the South Pacific Ocean. Cuming custom built a yacht to support his collecting. Twenty-four species have been named in his honor.

Description: The Cuming’s Jingle Shell is an unusual angular shell that has both circular valves sharply folded, with three ridges and two valleys, giving the shell a “W” shape. The shells are gray or white in color. The Cuming’s Jingle Shell reach 10.0 cm (3.5 inches) in length and 5.8 cm (2.3 inches) in height.

Habitat and Distribution: Cuming’s Jingle Shells are found attached to rocky substrate. They live intertidally, and to depths up to 100 m (330 feet). They are a tropical Eastern Pacific species. In Mexican waters they range from Bahía de los Ángeles, Baja California to Guatemala. They have not been documented on the west coast of the Baja Peninsula.

Ecology and Behavior:  Cuming’s Jingle Shells are suspension feeders that feed primarily on planktonic algae. Their predators include crabs, predatory mollusks and sea stars. They are gonochoric and reproduce sexually, through broadcast spawning, with external fertilization.  There is no mention in the available literature of them engaging in any types of parasitic, commensal, or symbiotic relationships. From a conservation perspective they have not been formally evaluated however they are fairly common with a relatively wide distribution and should be consider to be of Least Concern.

Synonyms: None