Leucozonia nassa ( Gmelin, 1791 )

Leucozonia nassa ( Gmelin, 1791) View in CoL

Murex nassa Gmelin, 1791: 3551 View in CoL .

Pleuroploca granulilabris Vermeij & Snyder, 2003 View in CoL (new synonym).

Leucozonia granulilabris View in CoL : Snyder et al., 2012: 58; MolluscaBase, 2023.

Type locality: Not stated. Pleuroploca granulilabris : off Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 70 m.

Remarks: L. nassa exhibits a remarkable geographic distribution, spanning marine coastal environments from North Carolina, USA, to Santa Catarina, Brazil, without any discernible gaps. It is also found in all oceanic islands. Due to its wide range, L. nassa displays several regional variants, leading to the detection of 14 nominal synonyms. This study proposes a 15 th synonym, Pleuroploca granulilabris . Leucozonia nassa has an interesting post-larval life cycle (personal observations), the post-larval life cycle begins in intertidal algae habitats when the shell size is only a few millimeters. As it grows, L. nassa transitions into an intertidal predator within the first few centimeters of shell development. Individuals exceeding ~ 4 cm in shell size venture into deeper, infratidal environments, and even venture out from the rocky or reef bottoms. Pleuroploca granulilabris is described based on an individual in this gerontic stage. Notably, in the original description of P.granulilabris , the authors did not provide a comparative analysis with L. nassa .