A distinctive land snail found throughout much of the Caribbean is Cerion. The genus name comes from the Latin “ceri-“ meaning “wax”, in reference to the beehive shape of shells in mid-ontogeny. Many individual species occur on only one island (if taxonomic splitters are correct in species identifications).

The adult shells seen here are from central Eleuthera Island. “Adults” are those that have reached “phase 3” of their ontogeny (growth). Phase 3 shells have a thickened apertural lip. Once the thickened lip is constructed, the shell does not enlarge further. Having a thickened apertural lip is a consistent character in adult land snail shells.

“Cerion glans (peanut snail shells) (modern; Eleuthera Island, Bahamas)” – James St. John