Relevant Synonyms Nerita kinzelbachi Nordsieck, 1973 Nerita forskali Récluz, 1841 Misidentification -  drawing: Tuvia Kurz

SHORT DESCRIPTION Shell globose, ovoid, very solid with low spire and a broad semicircular aperture bordered on the columellar side by a broad, flat callus. External sculpture with alternating broad and narrow, very flat ribs, crossed by indistinct growth lines; sometimes appearing quite smooth on old, worn specimens. Columella with a shallow notch in its median part, hardly denticulated if at all. Inner surface of the outer lip with inconspicuous denticles, or nearly smooth. color : variable, with generally irregular black zig-zag, confluent flames on a white background, more rarely with black pattern forming spiral bands, or with reddish hue instead of black. Inside of aperture and callus whitish, tinged sometimes with green, the outer color pattern apparent on the very edge. common size : up to 25 x 20 mm in the Red Sea, the two Mediterranean specimens smaller. DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS This is the Red Sea representative of a species group which includes Nerita albicilla Linnaeus, 1758, a species with a broad Indo-Pacific distribution which differs in having more conspicuous columellar and labial denticles. BIOLOGY / ECOLOGY Unknown. habitat : on rocks near sea level.

1st Mediterranean record Greece, 1973 [1969]. DISTRIBUTION Worldwide: only in the Red Sea; recorded at the southern entrance of the Suez Canal (Moazzo, 1939: 200, as N. forskali) and in the Great Bitter Lake. Mediterranean: recorded in 1969 from Karpathos, Greece (Nordsieck, 1973a) as new species Nerita kinzelbachi; successively from Tobrouk, Libya, coll. Ebreo (Giannuzzi-Savelli et al., 1994). ESTABLISHMENT SUCCESS Only the two mentioned records, which need confirmation. speculated reasons for success : - MODE OF INTRODUCTION Possibly via the Suez Canal. IMPORTANCE TO HUMANS None.

KEY REFERENCES Dekker H., 2000. The Neritidae (Gastropoda) from the circum-Arabian seas, with the description of two new species, a new subgenus and a new genus. Vita Marina, 47(2): 29-64. Giannuzzi-Savelli R., Pusateri F., Palmeri A. and Ebreo C., 1994. Atlante delle conchiglie marine del mediterraneo. Vol. 1 [38, Fig. 42]. La Conchiglia, Roma. Mienis H.K., 1974. Notes on recent and fossil Neritidae 5. Neritina kinzelbachi Nordsieck a synonym of Nerita sanguinolenta Menke. Argamon, 4(2-4): 45-46.   Nordsieck F., 1973a. A new Neritidae in the Mediterranean. La Conchiglia, 5(7-8): 4. FEEDBACK / COMMENTS TO AUTHORS

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