Pachychilus renovatus (Brot, 1862): synonym of Pachychilus cumingii I. Lea & H. C. Lea, 1851 (replacement name for Pachychilus cumingii I. Lea & H. C. Lea, 1851 as a secondary homonym)
Pachychilus tristrami Crosse & P. Fischer, 1892: synonym of Pachychilus gracilis Tristram, 1864 (invalid: unnecessary replacement name for Pachychilus gracilis)
Pachychilus violaceus (Preston, 1911) - endemic to the area from
Santiago de Cuba to
Baracoa, Cuba:[4] synonym of Pachychilus nigratus (Poey, 1858) (junior synonym)
Pachychilus vulneratus P. Fischer & Crosse, 1892: synonym of Pachychilus chrysalis (Brot, 1872) (junior synonym)
Human use
One of the
Maya peoples, the
Lacandon people, now
Mexico's native peoples from state
Chiapas, use
Pachychilus indiorum, known locally as "t’unu", as a type of protein supplement to their diet when animal protein is unavailable.[7] In addition, the
shells from this "chuti" snail have great nutritional value, as they provide
calcium and slaked
lime when burnt. They are often preferred as a lime source over local limestone or other freshwater snail species for their purity as an alkali. The slaked lime is added to
maize during the
process of making maize dough for tortillas, pozole, and other foods. Slaked lime allows the release of
amino acids such as
tryptophan and
lysine and the vitamin
niacin, which would otherwise be unavailable from the maize (unable to be metabolized) if the lime were not added.[7]
References
^Lea I. & Lea H. C. (1851). "Description of a new genus of the family Melaniana, and of many new species of the genus Melania, chiefly collected by
Hugh Cuming, Esq., during his zoological voyage in the East, and now first described". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London18: 179-197.
179.
^Healy P. F., Emery K. & Wright L. E. (1990). "Ancient and Modern Maya Exploitation of the Jute Snail (Pachychilus)". Latin American Antiquity1(2): 170-183.
JSTOR.
^
abcVázquez A. A. & Perera S. (2010). "Endemic Freshwater molluscs of Cuba and their conservation status". Tropical Conservation Science3(2): 190-199.
HTM,
PDF.
^Perrilliat M. D. C., Vega F. J., Espinosa B. & Naranjo-Garcia E. (2008). "Late Cretaceous and Paleogene Freshwater Gastropods from Northeastern Mexico". Journal of Paleontology82(2): 255-266.
doi:
10.1666/06-062.1.
^
abNations J. D. (1979). Snail Shells and Maize Preparation: A Lacandon Maya Analogy.
American Antiquity 44.3: 568-571.
External links
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