Peer Aquatic Biology
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The worm snail Cayo brunneimaculatus was buried in dead coral, as found, for example, in branches of Acropora palmata (Lamarck, 1816).
In Belize (Carrie Bow Cay and Tobacco Reef) it occurred together with other vermets on the same piece of dead coral, including Cayo margarita, Cayo refulgens., Cupolaconcha guana and Dendropoma cf. corrodens.
Abundance: Rare and solitary.
This worm snail also lacks the operculum.
This Cayo brunneimaculatus has a brown-white body coloration and also a longitudinal ribbing on the teleoconch whorls of the adult animals.
This worm snail has no yellow pigmentation in the head-foot area.
Found specimens were completely covered by coralline algae or corals
Etymology:
The generic name “Cayo” is the Spanish term for a small flat island in the Caribbean and surrounding regions, corresponding to “key” in Florida, “cay” in the Bahamas and “caye” or “cay” in Belize. Here, the term refers to the localities 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 “brunneimaculatus” is derived from the Latin words “brunneus” for brown and “maculatus” for mottled, speckled, in reference to the brown pattern in both the soft body and teleoconch coloration of this species.
Cayo brunneimaculatus is only known from the Belize Barrier Reef.
Cayo brunneimaculatus is strongly supported as a member of the Cayo n. gen. lineage and as the sister taxon to a group that includes Cayo. galbinus and Cayo. margarita.
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
CC BY 4.0, open access
In Belize (Carrie Bow Cay and Tobacco Reef) it occurred together with other vermets on the same piece of dead coral, including Cayo margarita, Cayo refulgens., Cupolaconcha guana and Dendropoma cf. corrodens.
Abundance: Rare and solitary.
This worm snail also lacks the operculum.
This Cayo brunneimaculatus has a brown-white body coloration and also a longitudinal ribbing on the teleoconch whorls of the adult animals.
This worm snail has no yellow pigmentation in the head-foot area.
Found specimens were completely covered by coralline algae or corals
Etymology:
The generic name “Cayo” is the Spanish term for a small flat island in the Caribbean and surrounding regions, corresponding to “key” in Florida, “cay” in the Bahamas and “caye” or “cay” in Belize. Here, the term refers to the localities 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 “brunneimaculatus” is derived from the Latin words “brunneus” for brown and “maculatus” for mottled, speckled, in reference to the brown pattern in both the soft body and teleoconch coloration of this species.
Cayo brunneimaculatus is only known from the Belize Barrier Reef.
Cayo brunneimaculatus is strongly supported as a member of the Cayo n. gen. lineage and as the sister taxon to a group that includes Cayo. galbinus and Cayo. margarita.
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
CC BY 4.0, open access
