Recent Brachiopoda from the Norfolk Ridge, New Caledonia, with description of four new species
Author
Bitner, Maria Aleksandra
text
Zootaxa
2009
2235
1
39
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.190398
5781f612-65d4-4817-8aa7-5091a042a326
1175-5326
190398
Basiliolella grayi
(
Woodward, 1855
)
(
Fig. 3
F–I)
This rhynchonellide species has a very complex taxonomic history.
In 1959
, G. A. Cooper assigned the present-day species
Rhynchonella grayi
Woodward, 1855
to the fossil genus
Eohemithiris
Hertlein & Grant, 1944
, known from the Eocene of California. Later, d’Hondt (1987) erected a new genus and species,
Basiliolella ferox
, for some material from off southern
New Caledonia
. Afterwards, based on the rich material collected around
New Caledonia
and the Chesterfield Islands,
Laurin (1997)
concluded that so-called
Eohemithiris grayi
and
Basiliolella ferox
are identical, and he synonymized both species under the name
Eohemithiris grayi
. Further investigations (Savage
et al
. 2002) have shown that Cooper’s (1959) assignment of
Rhynchonella grayi
to
Eohemithiris
was incorrect and that this Recent species should be attributed to the genus
Basiliolella
created by d’Hondt (1987).
As
B. grayi
and
B. ferox
are synonymous (confirmed also by my own examination of the material) the specific name
grayi
has priority over the name
ferox
.
Basiliolella grayi
was common in the present collections, being found on six seamounts and on the slope of the Isle of Pines (
Tables 1
, 2) at
185–560 m
(
Fig. 14
). The species was also noted from off
Fiji
by
Woodward (1855)
and
Logan (2007)
but was not found in the rich material from
Fiji
recently investigated by
Bitner (2006b
, 2008). It also occurs in the
Solomon Islands
and
Vanuatu
regions (Bitner in prep.).