Association of the little-cone limpet Patelloida conulus (Dunker, 1861) with creeping gastropods Rhincoclavis kochi (Philippi, 1848) and Batillaria attramentaria (Crosse, 1862) in Jeju Island on the south coast of Korea

The little-cone limpet Patelloida conulus (Dunker, 1861) is a member of the Lottiidae, occurring on sandy and muddy tidal flats in the intertidal zone, and is found living symbiotically on shells of mud snails, which often occurs in a high density in sandy and muddy intertidal areas. In this study, we first report association of the little-cone limpets with mud snails from an intertidal sandy beach at Sungsan on the northeast coast of Jeju Island. At the upper intertidal area, the common mud snail Batillaria attramentaria (G. B. Sowerby I, 1855) occurred at a high density, and P. conulus was found on the shell surface. Shell height of the little-cone limpet ranged from 2.6 to 6.6 mm (N = 7), and the host snail carried one P. conulus on its shell in most cases. The little-cone limpet and the mud snail association has been regarded as being restricted to the Batillariidae, while we observed for the first time the occurrence of P. conulus on the cerithiid snail Rhincoclavis kochi (Philippi, 1848). KCI Citation Count: 0