Bathyal Mollusca from the cold-water coral biotope of Santa Maria di Leuca (Apulian margin, southern Italy)
Author
Negri, Mauro Pietro
Author
Corselli, Cesare
text
Zootaxa
2016
4186
1
1
97
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.4186.1.1
5b97cddd-5284-4a6b-8693-898864fb4711
1175-5326
165288
029B675F-776C-4CD6-9992-FA05AEADFA7B
Liostomia
sp.
Fig. 17
p–r
Diagnostic characters
. Conical-ovate shell; whorls weakly convex; drop-shaped aperture; small umbilical chink; outer surface with sinuous growth lines only. Protoconch: heterostrophic, coaxially immersed (intorted); about 1.25 visible whorls; diameter about 300 µm; surface smooth; transition to the teleoconch marked by a simple, thin lip.
Remarks
. The present specimens are attributed to the genus
Liostomia
G. O. Sars, 1878
on the basis of the “
type
C” protoconch (
sensu
Van
Aartsen 1987
) and the absence of a columellar tooth or fold.
Liostomia
sp. differs from the related
L. clavula
(
Lovén, 1846
)
and
L. afzelii
Warén, 1991
[b], primarily in terms of shell shape (it is distinctly conical) and overall dimensions (it needs one more whorl to reach a comparable heigth).
The
northern Atlantic
L. eburnea
(Stimpson, 1851)
is also similar, but it has slenderer shell and orthocline growth lines.
Occurrence
. Box-corer sample BC72 (2 specimens); cores BC04 (1), BC05 (1). Maximum height:
2.5 mm
.
Distribution and habitat
.
Liostomia
species are parasites (host unknown; cf.
Høisaeter 2014
); they occur in both the northern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, from infralittoral to bathyal depths (
Van
Aartsen 1987
;
Van
Aartsen
et al.
1998
;
Schander
et al.
2003
;
Petersen 2004
;
Høisaeter 2009
).