Four new African turriform gastropods (Mollusca: Conoidea)
Author
Morassi, Mauro
Author
Bonfitto, Antonio
text
Zootaxa
2013
3710
3
271
280
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.3710.3.5
2f400e1e-e59e-480d-bd7f-edf4d7024f41
1175-5326
220154
E2A28D6C-42A9-4A09-B299-7C98E2045B47
Iredalea adenensis
sp. nov.
Figures
1
. I–K
Type
material.
Holotype
(MZB 60072) and 3
paratypes
(MZB 60073); 1
paratype
(MNHN-IM-
2012-2532
).
Type
locality.
Offshore Gulf of Aden, trawled by local fishermen at
200–400 m
in 1994.
Material examined.
The
type
material.
Description.
Shell rather solid (fig. I–J), narrowly claviform (b/l 0.43–0.45; a/l 0.39–0.46) with high, acute spire and short base. Protoconch somewhat conical of 1¾ whorls. Protoconch diameter:
0.75 mm
(
holotype
). Teleoconch of up to 7 whorls with slight, rounded shoulder at about mid-whorl height, sutural ramp concave, suture shallow. Sculpture of numerous, narrow axial ribs (fig. K), as broad as interspaces, opisthocline with a prosocline inflexion on sutural ramp; sixteen to 17 axial ribs on antepenultimate and penultimate whorl, 17–18 on last whorl. Adapical part of whorl surface sculptured on last two whorls by indistinct spiral lines; 7–8 spiral grooves, with a tendency to form rectangular granules where crossing axial ribs, on the rostrum. Aperture oblong-ovate, columella relatively straight with a moderately thick callus, its outer edge slightly raised; parietal region concave, parietal pad filling posterior angle of aperture, constricting anal sinus. Siphonal canal short, broad, slightly obliquely notched. Outer lip with a distinct stromboid notch in the abapical part, almost straight in lateral view, with a cutting edge. Anal sinus moderately deep, openly and asymmetrically U-shaped, directed slightly adapically. Color yellowishwhite with a single brown band margining abapical suture on penultimate whorl, occupying the median zone on the last whorl; columella and protoconch white. Dimensions:
Holotype
: 17.2 x
7.7 mm
, aperture height
6.8 mm
; largest
paratype
(MZB): 20.2 x
9.1 mm
, aperture height
9.3 mm
; smallest
paratype
(MZB): 14.7 x
6.4 mm
, aperture height
6.6 mm
.
Etymology.
adenensis
, alluding to the fact that the new species is described from the Gulf of Aden.
Remarks.
This new species represents the first record of the genus
Iredalea
from the Gulf of Aden. Kilburn (1988) reported two
Iredalea
species from southern Africa, namely
Iredalea inclinata
(Sowerby, 1893)
and
I. exilis
(Pease, 1868)
.
Iredalea adenensis
sp. nov.
is comparable in size to
I. inclinata
, reported from
Mauritius
and
Reunion
Island to
Natal
, but has more numerous axial ribs (16–18 versus 12–15 on later two teleoconch whorls), higher periphery (median rather than at about abapical third of whorl), fewer protoconch whorls (1¾ versus 2 ½), deeper anal sinus and very different colour pattern. In particular,
I. adenensis
has a yellowish-white shell with a single brown band margining abapical suture on penultimate whorl occupying the median zone on the last whorl, while the shell of
I. inclinata
is patterned with deep brown forming three bands on last whorl (Kilburn, 1988: 187). Weinkauff in Weinkauff & Kobelt, 1876 described
Pleurotoma polygonalis
from
Zanzibar
which, according to Kilburn (1988: 187), may prove to be an earlier name for
Iredalea inclinata
. The shell of
Pleurotoma polygonalis
was described as “
albida, zonis fuscis picta
” with “
flavidulo bifasciata
” aperture (page 100, pl. 21 figs 7,9). As remarked by Kilburn (1988), the original figure of
Pleurotoma polygonalis
is rather indistinct but the drawing in lateral view clearly shows two brown bands at level of aperture, thus differing from
Iredalea adenensis
which has a single brown band. Apart from the presence of spiral bands, the shell of
I. adenensis
is yellowish-white while that of
P. polygonalis
is patterned with brown (“
zonis fuscis picta
”). The new species resembles
I. exilis
Pease, 1860
reported from Polynesia to southern Africa, in possessing a brown band in the median zone of last whorl but otherwise differs mainly in its much larger shell (up to mm
20 mm
versus
8 mm
or less), shape (claviform rather than pupoid) and in possessing a paucispiral protoconch (1¾ versus about 4 whorls).