De veelkleurige mantel van Cyphoma gibbosum (Linnaeus, 1758) (Ovulidae)

The iconic Flamingo tongue Cyphoma gibbosum (Linnaeus, 1758) is well known by divers and snorkelers in the Caribbean. This snail species is rather common and easy to find on its soft coral hosts because of its conspicuous mantle pattern with black-lined yellow circles. The less common Fingerprint flamingo tongue Cyphoma signatum Pilsbry & McGinty, 1939 and Spotted flamingo tongue Cyphoma mcgintyi Pilsbry, 1939 can be distinguished from C. gibbosum by differences in mantle patterns, and minor shell variations. Findings of intermediate mantle patterns triggered a molecular study by the authors. Surprisingly, no variation was found in the DNA of the three species and an as yet unidentified black morph. Subsequent literature research revealed two studies reporting on the lack of difference in internal anatomy between various Cyphoma species. As a result Cyphoma signatum and C. mcgintyi are synonymised with C. gibbosum.