A fossil species found living off southern California, with notes on the genus Cymatioa (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Galeommatoidea)
Author
Valentich-Scott, Paul
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0019-7643
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara, California 93105, USA
pvscott@sbnature2.org
Author
Goddard, Jeffrey H. R.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1682-8438
Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
text
ZooKeys
2022
2022-11-07
1128
53
62
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1128.95139
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1128.95139
1313-2970-1128-53
5A7D93B21D5A41879CCE66B64B7A0C64
277649FB449458B09AA7004463A4C4EE
Cymatioa cooki (Willett, 1937)
Figs 1A-H
, 2A-C
Bornia cooki
Willett, 1937: 389, pl. 5, figs 3-6.
Description.
Shell
: thin, fragile, subovate; inequilateral, posterior end much longer; anterior and posterior ends broadly rounded; dorsal margin gently sloping on each side of umbos; ventral margin broadly gaping in living animal; beaks small, sharply pointed; prodissoconch 200
µm
in diameter; sculpture of irregular, slightly wavy commarginal striae, and fine, dense punctae; ventral margin with sparse, broad, low radial undulations; periostracum thin, light beige, silky; hinge plate narrow; right valve with one short anterior cardinal tooth, one elongate posterior lateral tooth; left valve with two minute anterior cardinal teeth, one elongate posterior lateral tooth; ligament internal, opisthodetic, elongate; resilifer narrow, elongate; ventral margin slightly wavy internally; adductor muscle scars subovate, subequal; pallial line entire; strong accessory muscle scars dorsal to pallial line. Length to 11.4 mm (
Willett 1937
).
Mantle
: large, reflected, covering most of outer shell surface when fully extended, including umbones (Fig.
1A
); mantle can be mostly retracted into the shell; reflected portion of mantle sparsely papillate (Fig.
1A
); slightly fused posteroventrally; two anterior and two posterior tentacles, short, slightly extending past shell margins (Fig.
1A, B
).
Foot
: large, translucent, exceeding the length of the shell when fully extended, spathate, with distinct pointed heel; bright white stripe extending from the tip of foot to the shell margin, presumably related to byssal formation (Fig.
1A
). This species is an active crawler (Fig.
1C
).
Type locality.
Baldwin Hills Pleistocene deposit, Los Angeles County, California;
33.9658
,
-118.4264
; LACMIP locality 59.
Locality of living specimens.
USA, California, Santa Barbara County, off Naples Point;
34.4339
,
-119.9500
; intertidal zone, in boulders and cobbles. SBMNH 629938, conjoined shell and anatomy, length 7.4 mm, height 4.5 mm (Fig.
1A, B
); SBMNH 641848, (Fig.
2A-C
), one left valve length 8.8 mm, height 5.5 mm.
Figure 2.
A-C
Cymatioa cooki
, shell of left valve collected at Naples Point, SBMNH 641848, length 8.8 mm
A
exterior of valve
B
interior of valve
C
close up of hinge
D-F
Cymatioa electilis
, left valve
D, E
holotype, CASIZG 043976, length = 16 mm
D
exterior of valve
E
interior of valve
F
paratype, SBMNH 34017, close up of hinge.
Habitat and potential commensal relationships.
All three living specimens were found near the seaward edge of a boulder field centered at
34.4339
,
-119.9500
and located on a broad, gently sloping, wave-cut bench of Monterey Shale. This boulder field extends vertically from a tidal height of approximately +0.3 m above mean lower low water to -0.4 m. The surfgrass
Phyllospadix torreyi
S. Watson, 1879, dominates much of the surrounding bench. At low tide, a shallow lagoon lies just landward of the boulder field, and behind that are more shale bench, a narrow sand beach, and then cliffs up to 20 m high consisting of Monterey shale overlain by terrestrial deposits. Sand levels on the beach and in the lagoon fluctuate seasonally, with nearly all of the beach scoured away in winter, but the boulder field as a whole is never significantly inundated, especially at its seaward edge where the
Cymatioa
was found. Vertical relief in the boulder field is fairly low, with most boulders under 0.5 m diameter. A few rock outcrops just to the west are only about 1 m high.
The specimens found on 23 November 2018 were on sand underneath a boulder (Fig.
1C, D
). One of these was found at the entrance to a burrow of unknown origin, with its foot extended and tentaculate inhalant siphon extending into the burrow opening. The burrow may have been constructed by the Tidepool Ghost Shrimp,
Neotrypaea biffari
(Holthuis, 1991), which occur frequently under boulders at this site, usually with commensal Blind Gobies
Typhlogobius californiensis
Steindachner, 1879. This sighting is vouchered in eight images at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/18597683, with the last image showing one of the specimens as first observed, next to the burrow entrance described above.
The specimen found on 4 March 2019 was on the underside of a boulder, among scattered tubes of the annelid
Spirorbis
sp. and small, scattered patches of an unidentified tan-colored encrusting sponge. Two small dorid nudibranchs,
Conualevia alba
Collier & Farmer, 1964; a single mussel,
Mytilisepta bifurcata
(Conrad, 1837); and an adult chiton,
Stenoplax conspicua
(Dall, 1879), were also present, all within a few centimeters of the
C. cooki
. Burrow openings of unknown origin and 3-5 mm in diameter were also present on the undersurface of the boulder. This sighting is vouchered in six images at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/20962245.
Comparisons.
The shell morphology of
C. cooki
is closest to
C. electilis
, with both species sharing a commarginal and punctate sculpture and an undulate ventral margin (Fig.
2A-F
).
Cymatioa cooki
is subquadrate and inequilateral, with a much longer posterior end (Fig.
2A
), whereas
C. electilis
is subovate with a slightly longer posterior end (Fig.
2D
). The cardinal teeth in both species are quite small and similar; however, the posterior lateral tooth in
C. cooki
is longer and more robust (Fig.
2C
) than that of
C. electilis
(Fig.
2F
). Because the living animal is undocumented for
C. electilis
, we are unable to provide anatomical comparisons. However, based on other galeommatid taxa, many differences in mantle tentacles and papillae are likely.