Smaragdia souverbiana
(Montrouzier in Souverbie & Montrouzier, 1863)
Indo-W. Pacific, including Red Sea; E. Mediterranean.
Seagrass grazer in the infralittoral.
Original taxon: Neritina souverbiana.
Juvenile found at the foot of the citadel, south of the harbour, Methóni, Messinia, Peloponnese, SW. Greece. 1,4mm.
Synonyms: pulcherrima, semen.
Beach drift, Kamiros Skala, SW. coast of Rhodes island. 4mm.
Live specimens in the western Pacific.
 
Top: near Agnay Spring, western coast of Romblon island, NE. Mirapora, Philippines. Original picture provided by tsinpu for iNaturalist – (CC BY-NC).
Bottom: Clifton Gardens Wharf, northern shore of Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, E.  Australia. Original picture provided by J. Sear for iNaturalist – (CC BY-NC).
Pattern variation in specimens from Rodrigues flats, Mascarenhas, Indian Ocean. The golden banded variant is named “hellvillensis” Crosse.
Neritina pulcherrima in G. F. Angas: “Descriptions of thirty-four new species of shells from Australia”, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for the year 1871, London 1871, plate I.
 
« Shell small, ovate, smooth, shining, generally pale grey, more or less zoned with yellow, and with a white band near the upper part of the whorls, which is ornamented with patches of purplish-black waved lines, the whorl below the band being closely adorned with finer zigzag or undulating lines of the same colour ; spire short, apex obtuse ; whorls 3, rounded ; aperture oblique, semilunar ; outer lip thin ; columella covered with a white, polished, spreading callus ; margin slightly arcuate and crenate in the middle. » – Ibid. p.19.
A specimen from the Gulf of iskenderun, NE. Levantine Sea. 2,7mm. Original pictures provided by A. Nappo (IT).
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