Southwest Florida Shells

by José H. Leal

Family Naticidae

Polinices lacteus

(Guilding, 1834)

Milk Moon Snail

Shell size to 30 mm; shell ovoid, with thin periostracum. Sutures poorly defined. Shell surface smooth, aperture with strong, sometimes convex parietal callus, that extends into, and in some cases obliterating, the deep umbilicus. Not common on the barrier islands of Southwest Florida, the shell illustrated was collected by Susan J. Hewitt on West Gulf Drive Beach, Sanibel, in December 2013.