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
Mitromorpha alabaster
n. sp.
(
Fig. 24A, B
)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:
1F3F9E18-4E56-477F-9705-CA632036DBE5
TYPE
MATERIAL. —
Holotype
.
sh., MNHN-IM-2000-34276, from SEAMOUNT 2 DW129
.
TYPE
LOCALITY. — Off W Gran Canaria,
28°08.32’N
,
15°51.94’W
/
28°08.51’N
,
15°51.61’W
,
480 m
.
ETYMOLOGY. — From the Latin name of a white, marble like stone, alluding to the colourless shell; used as a noun in apposition.
DESCRIPTION
Shell small, biconical, white; protoconch globose, smooth, of one and a half whorls.Teleoconch of 4 1/2 very slightly convex whorls. Sculpture of low axial ribs (about 15 on the penultimate and last whorl), slightly opisthocline, and of very flat spiral cords, much broader than their interspaces (three on first teleoconch whorl, five on penultimate, 17 on last whorl). Under high magnification, whole surface bearing axial wrinkles parallel to the growth lines. Suture shallow. Aperture narrow, outer lip with 4 denticles inside, the adapical one strongest, thickened outside; inner lip plain, with two strong folds near its middle, the adapical one the largest. Dimension of the
holotype
:
6.4 mm
height ×
2.8 mm
diameter.
FIG. 24. —
A
,
B
,
Mitromorpha alabaster
n. sp.
, holotype from DW129 (Height 6.4 mm).
REMARKS
There are two other described species from the Atlantic with a similar cancellate sculpture.
Mitromorpha biplicata
Dall, 1889
has one more teleoconch whorl (5-6 instead of about 4 1/2) at roughly the same size (
7 mm
). The sculpture is also different, being raised spiral cords separated by broad interspaces, in which additional cordlets appear at the end of the last whorl, whereas in
M. alabaster
n. sp.
the spiral cords are flat and much broader than the interspaces.
Mitromorpha dalli
Dautzenberg & H. Fischer, 1896
, is twice as large with a similar sized protoconch, which results in a profile with a very much more pointed apex. The latter is so far only known from the
holotype
(figured in
Bouchet & Warén 1980
), collected off the Azores at a depth of
1300 m
.