Peer Aquatic Biology
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Cayo galbinus comes buried in dead corals such as in branches of Acropora palmata (Lamarck, 1816), on the surface of dead areas of coral blocks and on the underside of dead coral rocks that do not rest directly on sand.
When exposed on the surface, the snails often form a perfect circle, often with a shallow basin excavated around the opening.
In Belize (at Carrie Bow Cay and Tobacco Reef), they occur on the same piece of dead coral together with other vermets, including Cayo refulgens Bieler, T. M. Collins, Golding & Rawlings, 2023 and Cayo brunneimaculatus Bieler , T. M. Collins, Golding & Rawlings, 2023, Cupolaconcha guana (Golding et al., 2014), Dendropoma cf. corrodens (d'Orbigny, 1841) and Petaloconchus sp.
In Belize, the snails are usually found singly or in loosely distributed clusters of 2–10 per boulder or large Acropora branch.
The operculum is also missing in Cayo galbinus, the species has undergone a parallel evolution of the non-operculate marine worm snail genera Thylacodes, so it also lacks an operculum (trapdoor) that closes the tube.
Coloration:
The snail is bright lime green, the head-foot area including tentacles and anterior mantle area are translucent bright lime green with delicate spots of opaque whitish-green pigment on the pedal tentacles, forming a border around the perimeter of the exposed foot surface.
The exposed pedal plate with stacked, transverse, sickle-shaped ribs that have opaque, whitish-green pigment in a translucent, darker, greenish matrix;
the mantle edge is patternless, young animals often have orange concave areas flanking the foot.
Females with pallial slit bordered by deep black pigment, gills completely deep black.
Juveniles often with orange concave side areas of the head-foot.
Distribution: So far, only live specimens have been reported from the Belize Barrier Reef.
Etymology:
The generic name “Cayo” is the Spanish term for a small flat island in the Caribbean and surrounding regions, equivalent to “key” in Florida, “cay” in the Bahamas and “caye” or “cay” in Belize. Here, the term refers to the locations of the four currently known species of this genus, Looe Key in the barrier reef of the Florida Keys and Carrie Bow Cay in the Belizean reef.
Etymology:
The specific name “galbinus” is derived from Latin and means “greenish-yellow”, referring to the vivid head-to-tail coloration
Literature reference:
Bieler R, Collins TM, Golding R, Granados-Cifuentes C, Healy JM, Rawlings TA, Sierwald P. 2023. Replacing
mechanical protection with colorful faces–twice: parallel evolution of the non-operculate marine worm-snail genera Thylacodes (Guettard,
1770) and Cayo n. gen. (Gastropoda: Vermetidae). PeerJ 11:e15854 http://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15854
Bieler R, Collins TM, Golding R, Granados-Cifuentes C, Healy JM, Rawlings TA, Sierwald P. 2023. Replacing
mechanical protection with colorful faces–twice: parallel evolution of the non-operculate marine worm-snail genera Thylacodes (Guettard,
1770) and Cayo n. gen. (Gastropoda: Vermetidae). PeerJ 11:e15854 http://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15854
CC BY 4.0, open access
When exposed on the surface, the snails often form a perfect circle, often with a shallow basin excavated around the opening.
In Belize (at Carrie Bow Cay and Tobacco Reef), they occur on the same piece of dead coral together with other vermets, including Cayo refulgens Bieler, T. M. Collins, Golding & Rawlings, 2023 and Cayo brunneimaculatus Bieler , T. M. Collins, Golding & Rawlings, 2023, Cupolaconcha guana (Golding et al., 2014), Dendropoma cf. corrodens (d'Orbigny, 1841) and Petaloconchus sp.
In Belize, the snails are usually found singly or in loosely distributed clusters of 2–10 per boulder or large Acropora branch.
The operculum is also missing in Cayo galbinus, the species has undergone a parallel evolution of the non-operculate marine worm snail genera Thylacodes, so it also lacks an operculum (trapdoor) that closes the tube.
Coloration:
The snail is bright lime green, the head-foot area including tentacles and anterior mantle area are translucent bright lime green with delicate spots of opaque whitish-green pigment on the pedal tentacles, forming a border around the perimeter of the exposed foot surface.
The exposed pedal plate with stacked, transverse, sickle-shaped ribs that have opaque, whitish-green pigment in a translucent, darker, greenish matrix;
the mantle edge is patternless, young animals often have orange concave areas flanking the foot.
Females with pallial slit bordered by deep black pigment, gills completely deep black.
Juveniles often with orange concave side areas of the head-foot.
Distribution: So far, only live specimens have been reported from the Belize Barrier Reef.
Etymology:
The generic name “Cayo” is the Spanish term for a small flat island in the Caribbean and surrounding regions, equivalent to “key” in Florida, “cay” in the Bahamas and “caye” or “cay” in Belize. Here, the term refers to the locations of the four currently known species of this genus, Looe Key in the barrier reef of the Florida Keys and Carrie Bow Cay in the Belizean reef.
Etymology:
The specific name “galbinus” is derived from Latin and means “greenish-yellow”, referring to the vivid head-to-tail coloration
Literature reference:
Bieler R, Collins TM, Golding R, Granados-Cifuentes C, Healy JM, Rawlings TA, Sierwald P. 2023. Replacing
mechanical protection with colorful faces–twice: parallel evolution of the non-operculate marine worm-snail genera Thylacodes (Guettard,
1770) and Cayo n. gen. (Gastropoda: Vermetidae). PeerJ 11:e15854 http://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15854
Bieler R, Collins TM, Golding R, Granados-Cifuentes C, Healy JM, Rawlings TA, Sierwald P. 2023. Replacing
mechanical protection with colorful faces–twice: parallel evolution of the non-operculate marine worm-snail genera Thylacodes (Guettard,
1770) and Cayo n. gen. (Gastropoda: Vermetidae). PeerJ 11:e15854 http://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15854
CC BY 4.0, open access
