Salute e Benessere
HKBU biologists discover two new windowpane shell species
Windowpane shells are edible but valued more for their shells which have been used for thousands of years as a substitute for glass. These beautiful translucent shells have been widely used in making windows, jewellery and decorative items such as lampshades and chandeliers.
The HKBU biologists discovered the new species from Hong Kong . The name " " is derived from the Latin word for "estuarial", highlighting this species' habitat - the estuarine waters of the Pearl River Estuary.
The HKBU team surveyed the epibenthic fauna in the waters of Lantau Island in April 2022 and studied a box jellyfish, which was later confirmed to be a new species, in the Mai Po Nature Reserve in July 2023 . During these studies, the team collected several subfossils of the genus .
According to the literature, the only recorded species of the genus in
Hong Kong is the tropical species . After careful comparison, the biologists at HKBU found that the specimens collected from
Hong Kong differed in features such as the hinge and auricle structure from the
This led them to confirm that it is a new species, which they named
. The team believes that the previous records of in
Hong Kong were due to misidentification, and that
may have migrated to other coastal areas of
China due to climate change.
The other new species, named , is celebrated for its "glassy", pearl-like appearance. HKBU biologists purchased live specimens of from the local fishermen at the Haikou Dongmen Market in May 2023 . Then they found more wild specimens in the intertidal zone of Xincun Port located in Sanya, Hainan , as well as specimens collected from Xiajin Bay in Xiamen , indicating its potential wide distribution around the South China Sea including Hong Kong .
has been erroneously identified as in the literature due to their similarities in shell shape, outline, and hinge structure. The HKBU team compared to from Singapore , which revealed a genetic difference of 11.43%–11.82% between their cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene, being several times the corresponding genetic difference between humans and chimpanzees
Professor Qiu said, "Identifying the species poses distinct challenges due to the variability in shell size, shape, and even the color of the inner surface, which can exhibit a wide range of variations. Our discovery of two new species not only broadens the diversity of windowpane shells but also suggests that this group may be more diverse than previously recognised. This finding calls for a reassessment of other marine species in Asia that are presumed to be widely distributed."
View original content: https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/hkbu-biologists-discover-two-new-windowpane-shell-species-302332387.html