Posted: Nov 5 2012, updated 10/16/17
Barbatia domingensis (Lamarck, 1819), Red-brown Ark
In 2012 I presented this shell as Barbatia cancellaria (Lamarck, 1819). A discussion followed with Bob Fales
and Susan Hewitt regarding comments by Huber (2015, p.367-368) that, based on Lamarck's type material Barbatia domingensis (Lamarck, 1819) is the correct name for what was commonly presented in publications as
B. cancellaria (Lamarck, 1819) (see Abbott #4966) and that the correct name for the species previously known as B. domingensis is not yet clarified. Huber presented this position upon the basis that the type material for
B. domingensis best conforms to Lamarck’s description of B. cancellaria and Lamarck’s treatment of B. cancellaria lacks a type locality and bears doubtful type material. The result is that the shell presented in publications prior to Huber (2015) as B. domingensis is unclear and the name B. domingensis should be applied to shells previously described as B. cancellaria. The below presentation conforms to this position and reflects the taxonomy in WoRMS as of 8/11/2024. Have fun with your data labels.
However, the taxonomy is questioned in: Simone, Luiz. Sep 2024. New species, misidentifications and problematic taxonomy of some Atlantic South American marine mollusks: a review. Pap. Avulsos Zool. v.64: e202464031. See page 66.
Huber, M. 2015. Compendium of Bivalves 2. ConchBooks.
LTS forum posts regarding range:
Don68:
Worn Barbatia domingensis singletons are relatively common at Coral Cove; occasionally a well-preserved pair washes up. I found a live pair last winter.
(Marlo's Note: Coral Cove is at the south end of Martin County immediately adjacent to Palm Beach County. So, this would be a slight range extension indicating that B. domingensis may be present offshore north of Palm Beach County.)
Rusty:
I find them common in keys rare on treasure coast mainly due to their size they're smaller than average.
Don68:
95+% of Coral Cove is in Palm Beach County; however, B. domingensis does show up at the Hobe Sound Wildlife Nature Preserve on the north end of Jupiter Island. This site is entirely in Martin County. It isn't nearly as common at this site but I found one yesterday (3/3/16) and another today.
Rusty:
Yup I do find them at low levels on Jupiter island too and beaches of south hutchenson island so it's a big expand northward but also that's it northward limit. I found out by researching that a inlet at northern edge of Jupiter island represents the northern limit of the coral reefs.
Up to Fort Pierce I think it's more mixed environment. Last year winter we had strong waves brought good numbers of ivory branch coral and northern cup coral. Now I just notice a new large cup coral of some kind have pop up at rare levels and a few weeks ago a few small sea whip of unknown species washed up on beach.
In fact my one trip to Jupiter island this year shells were poor but manage to find one red brown ark easily along with a piece of thorny oyster. In fact Jupiter island do have a unusual amount of thorny oyster washing up on beach.