Boonea bisuturalis 
System : Marine
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Heterostropha
Pyrmidellidae
- General
- Distribution
- Impact
- Management
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Common name
two-groove odostome (English)
Synonym
Odostimia bisuturalis , (Say, 1822)
Turritella bisuturalis , (Say, 1822)
Turritella bisuturalis , (Say, 1822)
Similar species
Summary
Boonea bisuturalis is native to the St. Lawrence River and the northwest Atlantic coast. It primarily feeds on other molluscs and grasses. It is an extoparisitic species and feeds on internal parts of its prey. It can be found under rocks at the line of low tide. B. bisuturalis has been introduced further south to the Gulf of Mexico and San Francisco. This species has been introduced to Califonia through contaminated oyster stock.
Species Description
Boonea bisuturalis has a small shell that is ovate and conical. The shell is whitish with a single revolving line between the suture. The surface is smooth with five or six whorls and a distinct line revolves just before the suture. The whorl at the bottom is larger than the other whorls; it makes up about half the shell's length. B. bisuturalis has a bluish-white pillar lip that is smooth and rounded. Within the shell there is a lip that is turned outwards, which produces an umbililcal chink. The length is 5.08mm and the width is 2.54mm (Gould, 1870).
Notes
Boonea bisuturalis is an ectoparasitic snail (Ray, 2005), which means that it lives outside its hosts body and feeds on its internal fluids and tissue.
Habitat Description
Boonea bisuturalis is most commonly found \"below the line of low tide, adhered to rocks\" (García-Cubas et al. 1992). It has also been found on decayed wood and under stones on the shore in Massachusetts (Gould, 1870). Marsh (1976) found B. bisuturalis in unvegetated muddy sand.
Reproduction
The season when Boonea bisuturalis spawns is during early June to mid-September (Robertson, 1978). B. bisuturalis is a hermaphroditic species, but self-fertilisation is hindered due to morphological, physiological, or behaviour problems (Nautilus, undated). To transfer sperm cells from the spermatophore, two B. bisuturalis must be present. They connect to each other with \"one holding on with its foot to the basal part of the apertural side of the shell of the other.\" The spermatophores are stuck together in the mantle cavity where transfer occurs (Robertson, 1978).
Nutrition
The diet of Boonea bisuturalis consistes of plankton and detrital food items and also oysters, clams, and mussels (Cohen and Carlton, 1995). B. bisuturalis feeds on the odostomoid species Fargoa bartschi. It also feeds on gastropod and bivalve species. The species upon which B. bisuturalis primarily feeds is the snail, Littorena littorea. Another host of B. bisuturalis is the oyster, Crassostrea virginica (Robertson and Mau-Lastovicka, 1979).
Pathway
Boonea bisuturalis has been introduced to Califonia through contaminated oyster stock.
Principal source: Robertson, R. 1978. Spermatophores fo Six Eastern North American Pyramidellid Gastropods and their Systematic Significance (With the New Genus Boonea). Bio. Bull. 155: 360-382.;
Compiler: National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) & IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)
Review:
Publication date: 2007-05-14
Recommended citation: Global Invasive Species Database (2024) Species profile: Boonea bisuturalis. Downloaded from http://iucngisd.org/gisd/species.php?sc=1147 on 14-12-2024.
General Impacts
Boonea bisturalis is an ectoparasite on the Atlantic oyster Crassostrea virginica and other bivalves and gastropods. It was found in association with the native hornsnail Cerithidae californica and the Atlantic mudsnail Ilyanassa obsoleta (see Nassarius obsoletus) (Cohen & Carlton 1995).
