ZooKeys
Info
Nautilus samoaensis inhabits marine areas near Pago Pago, American Samoa.
The color of freshly caught animals and viewed underwater has a magenta hue not seen in dried shells from this locality. As with all other known species, the color changes after the shell dries, the red tones are lost, and the shell takes on a uniform brown color.
Brief info:
Shell with umbilical plug, whorl higher than broad at maturity. Periostracum completely absent in mature and nearly mature specimens. Shell striation with a series of concentric circles overlapping in a manner unique to this species, with a single exception, although this has been referred to elsewhere as a "zigzag" pattern.
White protuberances between the stripes and outside the stripes on the entire midsection.
The following characteristics distinguish Nautilus samoaensis from other species of the genus Nautilus:
32-36% pigment coloration, more than Nautilus vitiensis and less than Nautilus vanuatuensis consisting of stripes that begin on the abdomen and then curve in an arc toward the opening where they eventually intersect with the umbilical region.
There is a faint growth-line sized pattern of annual rings similar in extent and morphology to that of Nautilus belauensis, but much less pronounced. The shell color pattern, which is the most unique of all Nautilus species, consists of several branching stripes with a posterior projection after descending from the abdomen. No other known Nautilus species exhibits this color pattern, and the shells are recognized as Nautilus pompilius based on this unique color pattern, coloration percentage, and shell shape.
Etymology
The specific epithet, an adjective, refers to the type locality, American Samoa.
Literature reference:
Barord GJ, Combosch DJ, Giribet G, Landman N, Lemer S, Veloso J, Ward PD (2023).
Three new species of Nautilus Linnaeus, 1758 (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) from the Coral Sea and South Pacific.
ZooKeys 1143: 51-69. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1143.84427
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
The color of freshly caught animals and viewed underwater has a magenta hue not seen in dried shells from this locality. As with all other known species, the color changes after the shell dries, the red tones are lost, and the shell takes on a uniform brown color.
Brief info:
Shell with umbilical plug, whorl higher than broad at maturity. Periostracum completely absent in mature and nearly mature specimens. Shell striation with a series of concentric circles overlapping in a manner unique to this species, with a single exception, although this has been referred to elsewhere as a "zigzag" pattern.
White protuberances between the stripes and outside the stripes on the entire midsection.
The following characteristics distinguish Nautilus samoaensis from other species of the genus Nautilus:
32-36% pigment coloration, more than Nautilus vitiensis and less than Nautilus vanuatuensis consisting of stripes that begin on the abdomen and then curve in an arc toward the opening where they eventually intersect with the umbilical region.
There is a faint growth-line sized pattern of annual rings similar in extent and morphology to that of Nautilus belauensis, but much less pronounced. The shell color pattern, which is the most unique of all Nautilus species, consists of several branching stripes with a posterior projection after descending from the abdomen. No other known Nautilus species exhibits this color pattern, and the shells are recognized as Nautilus pompilius based on this unique color pattern, coloration percentage, and shell shape.
Etymology
The specific epithet, an adjective, refers to the type locality, American Samoa.
Literature reference:
Barord GJ, Combosch DJ, Giribet G, Landman N, Lemer S, Veloso J, Ward PD (2023).
Three new species of Nautilus Linnaeus, 1758 (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) from the Coral Sea and South Pacific.
ZooKeys 1143: 51-69. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1143.84427
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
