The unknown bathyal of the Canaries: new species and new records of deep-sea Mollusca
Author
Ortega, José Rafael
Author
Gofas, Serge
text
Zoosystema
2019
2019-11-28
41
26
513
551
journal article
23381
10.5252/zoosystema2019v41a26
cef5076b-424b-4cdc-8d13-6e472d861e09
1638-9387
3726028
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CF16A992-0401-44C8-BEEE-842CE7F1D27E
Marginella pulex
n. sp.
(
Fig. 16
A-D)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:
68B6C64B-B86B-45A0-B842-EC26FD77F8AE
TYPE
MATERIAL. —
Holotype
.
sh., MNHN-IM-2000-34263
.
Paratypes
.
1 adult
spm.,
5 immature
spm. and 6 sh., MNHN- IM-2000-34264, all from SEAMOUNT 2 DW130
.
TYPE
LOCALITY. — Off NW Gran Canaria,
28°08.95’N
,
15°53.11’W
/
28°09.06’N
,
15°52.92’W
,
655-
660 m
.
ETYMOLOGY. — From the Latin
pulex
, a flea, alluding to the size and gloss of the shell recalling that of a flea; used as a noun in apposition.
OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 259 sh., SEAMOUNT 2 DW130.
DESCRIPTION
Shell very small, consisting of 3 1/2 whorls, whitish, translucent, smooth and glossy, with a moderately elevated spire. Apex blunt and rounded, protoconch
0.7 mm
in diameter, consisting of 1 1/2 whorl, delimited from teleoconch by a tenuous line. Spire whorls very slightly convex, with a thin suture and an internal false suture visible by transparency. Last whorl representing about 85% of total height. Aperture elongate, rather broad, parallel-sided except in the adapical part where it narrows very slightly. Outer lip smooth inside, bordered externally by thin labial varix, very slightly receding at its adapical end, forming there a hardly pronounced shoulder against the penultimate whorl. Abapical end bluntly pointed at the termination of the columella; there are four columellar plaits, equivalent in size, occupying slightly more than half of the aperture length. No columellar callus. Size up to
3.3 mm
high (
holotype
3.2 mm
high ×
1.8 mm
diameter).
REMARKS
This species bears a certain resemblance, regarding profile and shape of the aperture, to
Marginella colomborum
(Bozzetti, 1995)
described from Josephine bank, an isolated seamount located NW of Madeira, but
M. pulex
n. sp.
is much smaller (
2-3 mm
compared to
10 mm
) with a still thinner varix. Taking into account the large number of specimens, the thin outer lip is regarded as a diagnostic character state, not as an indication that the specimens are juveniles.