Posted: Jan 6 2024
Terebra of Florida
At first the Florida Terebras may appear difficult to distinguish. And, when dealing with individual shells, due to the great variability for some of the species, it will be difficult. However, being able to compare the species side-by-side will make the task much easier. Let's start by separating them into easy groups.
Glossema, arcas and floridana are offshore species and it would be extraordinary to find one on the beach.
Floridana and taurina are quite distinctive and readily recognizable.
Concava and vinosa are distinguished from the others by their distinctly concave whorls.
That leaves the two that can often be difficult to separate due to the variability in sculpture and color - dislocata and protexta.
Despite the introduction of the new genus Neoterebra I have retained the use of the name Terebra for all the species from Florida in order for there to be consistency among the presentations that go back over a decade. To understand the new classification see:
Fedosov, Malcolm, Terryn, Gorson, Modica, Holford and Puillandre. Jan 2020. Phylogenetic classification of the family Terebridae (Neogastropoda: Conoidea). Journal of Molluscan Studies, Vol. 85, Issue 4.
This reclassification assigned six of the above Florida species to the new genus Neoterebra, including N. arcas, N. concava, N., vinosa, N. dislocata, N. glossema, and N. protexta.
Terryn, Y. Aug 2023. An annotated revision of the West Atlantic taxa of Terebridae, with the description of a new species of Neoterebra. Gloria Maris, Vol. 62(1).