Taxonomic review of tropical western Atlantic shallow water Drilliidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Conoidea) including descriptions of 100 new species
Author
Fallon, Phillip J.
text
Zootaxa
2016
4090
1
1
363
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.4090.1.1
e6b35f5a-435e-4473-b29e-1e4d842f84b0
1175-5326
263299
203BAC25-B542-48FE-B5AD-EBA8C0285833
Splendrillia dissimilis
,
new species
(Plate 150)
Type
material.
Holotype
13.2 x
4.9 mm
, collected
April 1958
, ex Nowell-Usticke coll. (AMNH ICZ 249987); 4
paratypes
originally from the same lot as the
holotype
: 12.3 x 4.7, 13.1 x 4.9, 11.1 x 4.3 & 8.9 x
3.8 mm
(AMNH ICZ 249988).
Type
locality.
Pointe des Fleches, St. Croix,
U.S.
Virgin Is.
Range and habitat.
Known only from the
type
locality. The depth was not provided with specimens. Based on the condition shells in the large multi-species lot, they were probably collected as empty shells in the intertidal area.
Description.
Shell
small (to
13.2 mm
), fusiform, with a truncated anterior; whorls with a concave sulcus, angular, almost knob-like shoulders and nearly straight sides, number up to approximately 9, the last is 57% of the total length; ribs numerous; aperture oval with a short anterior canal. The last whorl appears somewhat flattened mid-whorl.
Protoconch
of approximately 2 smooth whorls.
Axial sculpture
of low, opisthocline ribs with round crests that become ridged at sulcus, where they are abruptly reduced in sulcus, and evanesce below whorl periphery before anterior fasciole, 10–13 on penultimate and 6–11 on last whorl to varix. Space between ribs less than their width. Growth striae throughout, moderately heavy, heaviest on outer lip; shell surface somewhat dulled by the striae.
Varix
broad, hump-like, approximately ¼–⅓-turn from edge of the outer lip.
Spiral sculpture
of ridges or threads on anterior fasciole.
Sulcus
concave, with much reduced, recurved ribs and growth striae.
Outer lip
flattened from varix to edge, with 1–3 strengthening axial folds, one aligned under anal sinus, another at lip’s edge, which is thickened in older specimens; edge forms a flattened arc from anal sinus to the anterior canal without an inflection along the anterior canal; stromboid notch weak.
Anal sinus
deep, apex adjoins suture behind parietal callus, outer side straight to slightly divergent.
Inner lip
recumbent, narrow, thin, produced into a short erect lip anteriorly on canal, unemarginate on anterior canal, formed into a callus posteriorly.
Anterior canal
short, barely delineated at the anterior end of the aperture; with spiral ridges on anterior fasciole, fasciole not swollen; end slightly notched.
Color
creamy yellow with a mid-whorl orange-brown band that spreads between the ribs and pools just below the sulcus, and a fainter band on the shell base. Columella, aperture, and spire tip white, not creamy yellow, on some specimens.
1: ventral, lateral & dorsal views;
Fig. 2
: apical view: V = varix, L = edge of outer lip; Figs. 3–4:
paratypes
, all originally from the same lot as the
holotype
, now in (AMNH ICZ 249988), ventral views.
Remarks.
Taxonomy
.
Splendrillia dissimilis
has all the characteristics of
Splendrillia
: axial ribs that are greatly reduced at the sulcus, opisthocline ribs that fade below the whorl periphery, and outer lip that joins the suture behind the sulcus.
Variability.
The average total length of five measured specimens is
11.72 mm
(
8.9–13.1 mm
), and their average W/L is 0.388.
Identification.
Splendrillia dissimilis
is similar to
S. cruzensis
,
new species
,
S. karukeraensis
,
new species
, and
S. interpunctata
(E.A. Smith, 1882)
. From
S. cruzensis
it differs in being somewhat stouter (average W/
L ratio
of 0.388 versus 0.363), in having more angular shoulders, and a different color, creamy yellow and orange-brown versus white, rose, and deep rose. From
S. karukeraensis
, it differs in having slightly shorter ribs, more angular whorls, and a different color, creamy yellow with orange-brown bands versus a creamy white with golden brown bands. From
S. interpunctata
it differs in having a narrower shell (average W/L ration of 0.388 versus 0.429), longer, narrower and usually more ribs (10–13 versus 9–11 on the penultimate whorl), and a different color, creamy yellow with orange-brown bands versus white with light to dark rose or golden yellow with carmine or golden brown between ribs.
Etymology.
The Different
Splendrillia
. From the Latin adjective
dissimilis
, meaning different or unlike. Originally from the same lot from the Nowell-Usticke collection and mistaken for
Splendrillia cruzensis
,
new species
but afterwards recognized as different.