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.

José H. Leal

Nov 20, 2020

Shell of the Week: The Cuban Vitrinella

Cyclostremiscus cubanus (Pilsbry & Aguayo, 1933) is a very small member of the family Tornidae. The shell reaches only about 1.5 mm (0.06 inch) in diameter! The shell is disk-shaped, with a sculpture of three strong keels with moderately deep interspaces between them, with the abapical (away from the apex, in this case the “center” of the shell) one most prominent. Umbilicus large, base with a strong additional keel that forms the “lower” angle of the aperture. A series of we

Shell of the Week: The Glossy Vitrinella

José H. Leal

Sep 20, 2019

Shell of the Week: The Glossy Vitrinella

Teinostoma obtectum Pilsbry & McGinty, 1945 is another member of a highly diverse family of micromollusks, the Tornidae. The Glossy Vitrinella reaches about 2.2 mm (about 0.09 inch) in diameter, and its shell is strongly depressed (flattened), with the spire (the top) covered with a glass-like glaze. The shell outline is rounded, and the base shows a prominent callus. Shell color is white. The illustrated shell was collected in 1996 on Sanibel, and later identified by Harry G

Shell of the Week: The Keeled-base Vitrinella

José H. Leal

Sep 13, 2019

Shell of the Week: The Keeled-base Vitrinella

Teinostoma carinicallus Pilsbry & McGinty, 1946 is one the most distinctive among the local species of vitrinellas (family Tornidae). Its shell, which rarely reaches 3 mm (0.12 inch) in diameter, is delicate, smooth, with a low spire. The last whorl is flat, but the shell periphery is rounded. A concave callus (the plug-like structure on the shell base) completely closes the shell umbilicus. The most distinctive feature in the shell of this species is the presence of a narrow

Shell of the Week: The Florida Vitrinella

José H. Leal

Aug 30, 2019

Shell of the Week: The Florida Vitrinella

Vitrinella floridana Pilsbry & McGinty, 1946 is a very small species of the family Tornidae, that barely reaches 2 mm (about 0.8 inch) in diameter. The shell is smooth, totaling only about 3.5 whorls, with an open umbilicus, and the callus is absent. The shell is compressed, with the apex projecting only slightly, the whorl profile rounded, and the aperture oblique. The shell color in the Florida Vitrinella is translucent-white. The shell illustrated was collected in 2002 by

Shell of the Week - The Hidden-spire Vitrinella

José H. Leal

Aug 23, 2019

Shell of the Week - The Hidden-spire Vitrinella

This species is actually the Hidden-spire Vitrinella, Teinostoma cryptospira (A.E. Verrrill, 1884), not the Trifle Vitrinella, Teinostoma lerema, as identified in the original posting. At 2 mm (0.08 inch) maximum size, the Hidden-spire Vitrinella is one of the smallest members of the family Tornidae in Florida. The suture (line where two successive whorls join) in this species is not very visible, not forming a distinct line on the shell surface. The shell surface is smooth,

Shell of the Week: High-spired Vitrinella

José H. Leal

Aug 16, 2019

Shell of the Week: High-spired Vitrinella

Teinostoma altum Pilsbry, 1953, is another member of the microgastropod family Tornidae with ample distribution in Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. Shell size up to 2.2 mm (about 0.09 inch) in diameter. As the scientific and common names of the species indicate, the shell has a tall spire, resembling a miniature moon snail (family Naticidae). The shell lacks any sculpture except for microscopic growth lines. The protoconch sunken within the remainder of the shell. The umbilicu

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,

Shell of the Week: The Biscayne Vitrinella

José H. Leal

Aug 2, 2019

Shell of the Week: The Biscayne Vitrinella

With adult shells reaching only about 2 mm (about 0.08 inch) in diameter, Teinostoma biscaynense Pilsbry & McGinty, 1945 is one of the smallest members of the family Tornidae in the western Atlantic. The shell has a low spire, is flattened, depressed, and its periphery (outer shell “edge”) is softly angled. The shell spire and base lack any sculpture except for coarse, irregular growth lines. The protoconch is sunken within the adult shell. The umbilicus is completely obliter

Shell of the Week: The Interrupted Vitrinella

José H. Leal

Jul 26, 2019

Shell of the Week: The Interrupted Vitrinella

Parviturboides interruptus (C.B. Adams, 1850) is a member of the microgastropod family Tornidae with ample distribution in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, and is found also along the coast of Southwest Florida. Larger shells of the species reach only about 1.5 mm (about 0.06 inch) in diameter. The shell has a raised spire, and is covered by strong, raised spiral cords, that may number as many as 15 in the last whorl. The umbilicus is present, but small. The shell color is t

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