Aliger gallus
Aliger gallus, previously known as Strombus gallus, common name the rooster conch or rooster-tail conch, is a species of medium-sized sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Strombidae, the true conchs.
Distribution
This species is found from southeast Florida and Bermuda through the West Indies and south to Brazil.Description
The average shell length of this species is about 12.5 cm.The maximum recorded shell length is 197 mm.
Habitat
The minimum recorded depth for this species is 0.3 m.; the maximum recorded depth is 82 m.Phylogeny
The phylogenetic relationships among the Strombidae have been mainly accessed on two occasions, by Simone and Latiolais, using two distinct methods. Simone proposed a cladogram based on an extensive morpho-anatomical analysis of representatives of Aporrhaidae, Strombidae, Xenophoridae and Struthiolariidae, which included L. gallus.
With the exception of Lambis and Terebellum, the remaining taxa were previously allocated within the genus Strombus, including L. gallus. However, according to Simone, only Strombus gracilior, Strombus alatus and Strombus pugilis, the type species, remained within Strombus, as they constituted a distinct group based on at least five synapomorphies. The remaining taxa were previously considered as subgenera, and were elevated to genus level by Simone in the end of his analysis. The genus Aliger, in this case, included Aliger gallus and Aliger costatus, which were thus considered closely related.
In a different approach, Latiolais and colleagues proposed another cladogram that attempts to show the phylogenetic relationships of 34 species within the family Strombidae. The authors analysed 31 species in the genus Strombus includingLobatus gallus, and three species in the allied genus Lambis. The cladogram was based on DNA sequences of both nuclear histone H3 and mitochondrial Main [subunit of cytochrome c oxidase|cytochrome-c oxidase I] protein-coding gene regions. In this proposed phylogeny, Strombus gigas and Strombus gallus are closely related and appear to share a common ancestor.