Curator's Corner

Museum, research, and collection updates from Dr. José H. Leal, plus Shell of the Week, which highlights a different species every Friday. Most Shells of the Week—but not all—are found in Southwest Florida.

Dr. José H. Leal serves as the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum’s Science Director and Curator. He received his Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Fisheries from the University of Miami and has served at the Museum since 1996. Under his leadership, the Museum was awarded its first accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in 2010.

Shell of the Week: The Adams Scale Snail

José H. Leal

Aug 9, 2019

Shell of the Week: The Adams Scale Snail

For the moment, Cochliolepis adamsii (P. Fischer, 1857) is the last in a long series of species of the family Tornidae covered in this column. It is also, in my opinion, one of the more elegant species of that micromollusk family, with its low-profile, disk-shaped shell. The sculpture consists of fine spiral lines, the umbilicus (“hole” on the bottom of the shell) is large, and is not closed by a callus. The aperture is slanted and the outer lip thin. The color is milk-white,

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Curator's Corner