Diversity of Coralliophilinae (Mollusca, Neogastropoda, Muricidae) at Austral Islands (South Pacific) Author Oliverio, Marco Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e dell’Uomo, Rome University, “ La Sapienza ”, Viale dell’Università 32, I- 00185 Rome (Italy) marco. oliverio @ uniroma 1. it text Zoosystema 2009 2009-12-31 31 4 759 789 http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.5252/z2009n4a2 journal article 8158 10.5252/z2009n4a2 e6fe093f-6002-4668-ae64-b656f2f7acfc 1638-9387 4520186 Babelomurex sp. A aff. B. yamatoensis Kosuge, 1986 ( Fig. 7C, D ) Babelomurex yamatoensis Kosuge, 1986: 70 , pl. 28, figs 1-5, pl 29, fig. 1. TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype ( IMT 86-3 ; not examined; figured by Kosuge [1986 : pl. 28, fig. 1] along with a paratype [figs 2, 4]). TYPE LOCALITY. — South China Sea. MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Banc Arago, BENTHAUS, stn DW 1969, 23°22’S , 150°43.2’W , 200-640 m , 1 dd (fragment, Fig. 7C, D ). DISTRIBUTION. — The Babelomurex yamatoensis group of species ranges from Japan ( Kosuge 1986 : pl. 28, figs 3, 5), to the South China Sea and the Philippines , New Caledonia , Loyalty Ridge, Norfolk Ridge and Vanuatu , mostly in deep waters (empty shells in 195-360 m , alive in 254-264 m [ Oliverio 2008b ], found occasionally alive at shallower depth [ 40-80 m ] in the Philippines ). Range extension to SW Pacific. REMARKS The complex of species in the B. yamatoensis group is traditionally diagnosed basing on a combination of protoconch and teleoconch characters ( Kosuge 1986 ). Both sets are mostly lacking in the fragment here recorded and thus, a definitive species identification is impossible.