cirsotrema dalli epitonium

Now you can add this PLASTERED WENTLETRAP to your bucket list of “Find A Rare SWFL Shell”. Isn’t it beautiful?

plastered wentletrap

No, I didn’t find it. Donnie is back in action! He found this WENTLETRAP at Blind Pass Captiva near the bridge. That’s been a hot spot! He knew his WENTLETRAP looked different so he sent me this photo and said it was 1 and 1/8 inches long. That’s pretty big for a WENTLETRAP…

plastered wentletrap size

I didn’t recognize it as being any of the WENTLTRAPS we’ve collected or the 5 different WTs I showed on my How To Find Wentletrap Shells On Sanibel post.

Donnie and his daughter Alyssa (who is an excellent avid sheller on her own right) were fortunate to have Dr. Jose Leal, the director of the shell museum, take a look at his special find.

benton jose shell musuem

Dr Leal and Smokey Payson were very curious to see it!

jose leal smokey shell museum

After Dr Leal inspected it through the microscope, Alyssa got to do her own investigation of her dad’s WENTLETRAP as well….

alyssa microscope shell

After thorough research…

research seashells

And a meeting of the minds…

jose alyssa smokey shell museum

Dr Leal concluded that this WENTLETRAP is an Cirsotrema dalli and will photograph it to add to his list for southwest Florida shells. Yippee!!! Congratulations Donnie!

So let’s do this… for us “common-shell-name-folks” like me, let’s call it the PLASTERED WENTLETRAP as they do HERE. Since Dr Leal said this was an excellent and rare find, we all need to keep our eyes “plastered” for the shape of this one to see if any more show up. I’d love to find one too! So if you have a copy of this laying around your house gathering dust, let me know so I can put it to good use to add to my research “library” (haha) too.

the wentle trap book

I have a few more unusual shells to show you that Donnie and Alyssa took to the Shell Museum… so stay tuned!

To learn more about the other species of WENTLETRAPS you can find on in Southwest Florida as shown in this next photo, CLICK HERE

different wentletraps

Oh and Hey! Don’t forget to book your reservations to join us on an iLoveShelling ShellingAdventure!

For info, click on the next image…

iLoveShelling ShellingAdventures