Liguus fasciatus solidus var. margaretae Jones 1979
Type locality: A small hammock of the Southern Everglades.
Holotype: USNM
Description: Liguus fasciatus form margaretae Jones 1979, TN 94 (4): p. 156-158, figs. 3, 4.
A transcription of the original description follows.
Liguus fasciatus margaretae, new form
Figs. 3, 4
Description: Shell large (to 64 mm in length), elongate; texture subsolid with a sheen but appears dull; body whorl convex, well-shouldered; penultimate whorl convex; the antepenultimate, fouth and third whorls flat; columella straight, not thin, slightly twisted, occasionally obliquely truncated; palatal lip slightly thickened within, usually crenate at juncture of periostracal green lines which are numerous and always present.
Color: columella and first two or three whorls of spire are white. There is a narrow suprasutural creamy yellow band and a subsutural mahogany-colored line. The fourth whorl is ivory white broken by reddish brown subsutural spots that often develop into vertical striae that extend downward almost to the suture. The fifth, or antepenult whorl, has a broad bluish gray band broken by light-tan vertical flares that increasingly diffuse on the penultimate and body whorls and on the body whorl are overlaid with a blue-green wash above a above the reddish mahogany peripheral line and a wide darker green wash below the light-tan narrow band that lies immediately below the peripheral line. There is often a baby-blue line immediately above the peripheral line, An orange basal band borders the columella and it is bordered by a much darker band that extends from the base of the shell to approximately two-thirds the distance to the suture.
Type material: The type locality is a small hammock of the southern Everglades. The holotype is a mature, three-year-old shell, length 54.5 mm., width 26 mm., aperture width 13 mm., distance from suture to base of shell 22.5 mm. It has been placed in the United States National Museum, Washington, D.C. Paratypes were also placed there and in the collections of the Everglades National Park, Homestead, Florida, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the University of Florida at Gainesville.
Comments: This race of snails descended from five snails that appeared in a hammock in which I had placed together lucidovarius from Pinecrest Hammock No. 11 and clenchi from Pinecrest Hammock No. 88. One of these shells had a so-called "jewel tip," or apex of pinkish brown. This population produced the two abovementioned forms, lossmanicus, many intermediates and the five ancestors of margaretae.
The five snails were transferred to another hammock which had no snails. Two years later I returned and saw about 15 newly hatched snails (all of the white-tipped form), three white-tipped parents, and the dead jewel-tipped shell. If this jewel-tipped snail died before it mated it could account for the white-tipped offspring.
One would expect to find the polymorphism of the first hammock to show itself in the snail population of the second hammock but this has not occurred. Since the introduction in July, 1969 all offspring have been margaretae.
The distinguishing characteristics of margaretae are the light blue-green wash over the body whorl and the spire pattern of lucidovarius. In recently collected shells the wash appears to be more blue than green but as the colors fade green predominates.
I name this shell for my wife whose patience and understanding made it possible for me to spend many thousands of hours in the field these 45 years since I first began snailing in 1934.

Holotype, Jones 1979
My take on Jones' description and type follows.
"Liguus fasciatus margaretae, new form"
Not a form as defined by Pilsbry (a "microsubspecies"), but a variety of the marmoratus group of the solidus subspecies. These varieties have a white tip and are unzonated and variegated. Though an artificially developed variety, it's been found in significant numbers, persists and is distinct.
"The distinguishing characteristics of margaretae are the light blue-green wash over the body whorl and the spire pattern of lucidovarius. In recently collected shells the wash appears to be more blue than green but as the colors fade green predominates."
I basically agree with the main point of Jones' summation. I see the shell as characterized by a diffuse lavender-gray pattern overlying a pale yellow to yellow-tan ground color. There may be wide washes of lavender and orange on the body whorl. A light wash over the ground color may sometimes produce a green or even pink aspect. The darker subsutural cogs of the early whorls typically disappear by the body whorl leaving an unobstructed subsutural line of orange. The suprasutural dark (lavender-gray overlaid with orange) line of the spire becomes the smeared orange peripheral line of the body whorl as the lavender-gray component fades. These two lines that border the greater part of each whorl on the spire are suggestive of the "walkeri pattern" but are not the product of zonation. It's a common feature of shells of the subspecies solidus.
L. f. s. var. margaretae and its sibling beardi were limited to a few populations in a vulnerable region. Severe fires and Hurricane Andrew may have reduced their numbers, but they appear to have survived.






Southern Everglades
Type locality: A small hammock of the Southern Everglades.
Holotype: USNM
Description: Liguus fasciatus form margaretae Jones 1979, TN 94 (4): p. 156-158, figs. 3, 4.
A transcription of the original description follows.
Liguus fasciatus margaretae, new form
Figs. 3, 4
Description: Shell large (to 64 mm in length), elongate; texture subsolid with a sheen but appears dull; body whorl convex, well-shouldered; penultimate whorl convex; the antepenultimate, fouth and third whorls flat; columella straight, not thin, slightly twisted, occasionally obliquely truncated; palatal lip slightly thickened within, usually crenate at juncture of periostracal green lines which are numerous and always present.
Color: columella and first two or three whorls of spire are white. There is a narrow suprasutural creamy yellow band and a subsutural mahogany-colored line. The fourth whorl is ivory white broken by reddish brown subsutural spots that often develop into vertical striae that extend downward almost to the suture. The fifth, or antepenult whorl, has a broad bluish gray band broken by light-tan vertical flares that increasingly diffuse on the penultimate and body whorls and on the body whorl are overlaid with a blue-green wash above a above the reddish mahogany peripheral line and a wide darker green wash below the light-tan narrow band that lies immediately below the peripheral line. There is often a baby-blue line immediately above the peripheral line, An orange basal band borders the columella and it is bordered by a much darker band that extends from the base of the shell to approximately two-thirds the distance to the suture.
Type material: The type locality is a small hammock of the southern Everglades. The holotype is a mature, three-year-old shell, length 54.5 mm., width 26 mm., aperture width 13 mm., distance from suture to base of shell 22.5 mm. It has been placed in the United States National Museum, Washington, D.C. Paratypes were also placed there and in the collections of the Everglades National Park, Homestead, Florida, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the University of Florida at Gainesville.
Comments: This race of snails descended from five snails that appeared in a hammock in which I had placed together lucidovarius from Pinecrest Hammock No. 11 and clenchi from Pinecrest Hammock No. 88. One of these shells had a so-called "jewel tip," or apex of pinkish brown. This population produced the two abovementioned forms, lossmanicus, many intermediates and the five ancestors of margaretae.
The five snails were transferred to another hammock which had no snails. Two years later I returned and saw about 15 newly hatched snails (all of the white-tipped form), three white-tipped parents, and the dead jewel-tipped shell. If this jewel-tipped snail died before it mated it could account for the white-tipped offspring.
One would expect to find the polymorphism of the first hammock to show itself in the snail population of the second hammock but this has not occurred. Since the introduction in July, 1969 all offspring have been margaretae.
The distinguishing characteristics of margaretae are the light blue-green wash over the body whorl and the spire pattern of lucidovarius. In recently collected shells the wash appears to be more blue than green but as the colors fade green predominates.
I name this shell for my wife whose patience and understanding made it possible for me to spend many thousands of hours in the field these 45 years since I first began snailing in 1934.

Holotype, Jones 1979
My take on Jones' description and type follows.
"Liguus fasciatus margaretae, new form"
Not a form as defined by Pilsbry (a "microsubspecies"), but a variety of the marmoratus group of the solidus subspecies. These varieties have a white tip and are unzonated and variegated. Though an artificially developed variety, it's been found in significant numbers, persists and is distinct.
"The distinguishing characteristics of margaretae are the light blue-green wash over the body whorl and the spire pattern of lucidovarius. In recently collected shells the wash appears to be more blue than green but as the colors fade green predominates."
I basically agree with the main point of Jones' summation. I see the shell as characterized by a diffuse lavender-gray pattern overlying a pale yellow to yellow-tan ground color. There may be wide washes of lavender and orange on the body whorl. A light wash over the ground color may sometimes produce a green or even pink aspect. The darker subsutural cogs of the early whorls typically disappear by the body whorl leaving an unobstructed subsutural line of orange. The suprasutural dark (lavender-gray overlaid with orange) line of the spire becomes the smeared orange peripheral line of the body whorl as the lavender-gray component fades. These two lines that border the greater part of each whorl on the spire are suggestive of the "walkeri pattern" but are not the product of zonation. It's a common feature of shells of the subspecies solidus.
L. f. s. var. margaretae and its sibling beardi were limited to a few populations in a vulnerable region. Severe fires and Hurricane Andrew may have reduced their numbers, but they appear to have survived.






Southern Everglades
