Living Scallops of Australia and Adjacent Waters (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Pectinoidea: Propeamussiidae, Cyclochlamydidae and Pectinidae)
Author
Dijkstra, Henk H.
Author
Beu, Alan G.
text
Records of the Australian Museum
2018
Rec. Aust. Mus.
2018-05-23
70
2
113
330
http://dx.doi.org/10.3853/j.2201-4349.70.2018.1670
journal article
10.3853/j.2201-4349.70.2018.1670
2201-4349
5299017
8084C
Laevichlamys limatula
(Reeve, 1853)
Figs
66, 67E
,K–L, 69G,J
Pecten limatula
Reeve, 1853
: sp. 124, pl. 28, fig. 124; Küster & Kobelt, 1888: 257, pl. 67, fig. 5; Melvill & Standen, 1899: 183.
Pecten (Chlamys) limatula
Reeve.
–Dautzenberg & Bavay, 1912: 12.
Laevichlamys limatula
(Reeve)
.–
Waller, 1993: 204
; Raines & Poppe, 2006: 204–205, upper figs; pl. 144, figs 2a–b; Dijkstra & Moolenbeek, 2008: 19.
Type data
.
Holotype
(pr)
NHMUK1981246
, figured by
Reeve
(1853: pl. 28, fig. 124), refigured by
Raines
&
Poppe
(2006: pl. 144, figs 2a–b). Type locality:
Unknown.
Additional material examined
. —AUSTRALIA:
QUEENSLAND
: GBR, No. 8 Sand Cay, N side,
13°21'S
143°57'E
,dead,
4–21 m
(1 v, C.157597); GBR, Swain Reefs, Reef 21-176, N slope,
21°20'S
151°36'E
, dead,
10 m
(1 v, C.332602).
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
: Abrolhos
Islands
,Wallabi Group, E side of Goss Passage, Beacon Island, approx.
28°28'S
113°45'E
,dead,subtidal (2 pr,
WAM
S30731
);Abrolhos
Islands
,Wallabi Group, E side of Beacon Island, approx.
28°28'S
113°47'E
, dead,
6–27 m
(1 v,
WAM
490.91);Abrolhos
Islands
,Wallabi Group,SW of Dicks Island,Noon Reef, approx.
28°28'S
113°45'E
,alive,
2–3 m
(1 pr,
WAM
491.91).—CHRISTMAS ISLAND: Flying Fish Cove,dead,
5–25 m
(1 pr,
ZMA
Moll.146222).—MARSHALL
ISLANDS
: Kwajalein Atoll, Carlos Island, outside lagoon, alive,
15 m
(1 pr,
ZMA
Moll.142482); Kwajalein Island, ocean side of reef, alive,
12–18 m
(3 pr,
ZMA
Moll.142478).—FIJI
ISLANDS
: Viti Levu, Beqa Island, alive,
18 m
(1 pr,
ZMA
Moll.142486). —LINE
ISLANDS
: Christmas Island, Cook Isle, alive,
12 m
(6 pr,
ZMA
Moll.142487).
Description
. Shell up to c.
30 mm
high, thin, semitranslucent, ovate, some specimens prosocline, others acline; valves almost equally weakly inflated, slightly inequivalve, equilateral, auricles highly unequal in shape and size, umbonal angle c. 85–90°; brightly coloured, cream, orange or yellow with radial blotched streaks of darker colour; some specimens uniformly coloured.
Both valves sculptured with numerous, very closely and unevenly spaced, spinous radial riblets (c.
60–70 in
adult stage near ventral margin), increasing by intercalation and varying slightly in prominence. Interstitial microsculpture commarginal in early growth stage, more antimarginal in late ontogeny. Anterior auricles with 6–10 squamous radial riblets, posterior ones with 4–6. Byssal notch relatively deep, byssal fasciole broad. Functional ctenolium well-developed, with 4–6 teeth.
Dimensions
.
Illustrated
specimen: WA,
Abrolhos
Islands
,
Wallabi Group, E
side of
Goss Passage
,
Beacon Island
, approx.
28°28'S
113°45'E
(
WAM
S30731
): H 25.2, L 22.3, D
7.6 mm
.
Habitat
. Living in the littoral zone, byssally attached to the undersides of coral boulders, or amongst coral rubble on clean sand.
Distribution
. Tropical Indo-West Pacific, from the
Philippines
to northern
Australia
, westwards to
Christmas Island
, and eastwards into the central Pacific to the Line
Islands
(Raines & Poppe, 2006: 204);
Indonesia
,
10–25 m
, dead (Dijkstra & Moolenbeek, 2008: 19). Maximum depth range of live-taken specimens is
12–
18 m
. Present specimen from
Australia
alive at
2–
3 m
.
Remarks
. The epithet “limatula” (Latin, diminutive of “lima”, a file) is an indeclinable noun. The present specimens from
Australia
are indistinguishable from the
holotype
.
Wagner (1982: 86)
synonymized the present species with
Laevichlamys irregularis
(
Sowerby, 1842
)
(=
Laevichlamys cuneata
(Reeve, 1853)
, above), and considered that there are no significant morphological differences between the two nominal taxa. However,
L. limatula
has much finer and more evenly arranged radial sculpture than
L. cuneata
, which has much more unevenly spaced and less well-developed narrow and broad radial costae. Moreover,
L. limatula
is smaller in size, relatively thin, and more brightly coloured.
Waller (1993: 204)
placed both species in his new genus
Laevichlamys
.