New species and new records of deep-water Fusolatirus (Neogastropoda: Fasciolariidae) from the west Pacific

The neogastropod fasciolariid genus Fusolatirus Kuroda & Habe, 1971, is redescribed based on shell and radula characters. Fourteen species are tentatively placed in the genus, nine of them for the first time, all from moderately deep water (50-300 meters) in the tropical Indo-West Pacflc. Additional species currently placed in Latirus or Peristernia may also be referable to Fusolatirus when the range of shell and radula characters are better understood. However, we do not regard as congeneric Fusolatirus kurodai (Okutani & Sakurai, 1964) nor Fusolatirus kuroseanus Okutani, 1975. Fusolatirus luteus n. sp. and Fusolatirus pachyus n. sp., both from the New Caledonia area, are described. Latirus cloven Snyder, 2003 [June] is a new synonym of Euthria suduirauti Fraussen, 2003 [April], originally described as a buccinid and here referred to Fusolatirus. The ranges of Fusolatirus balicasagensis (Bozzetti, 1997), F kandai (Kuroda, 1950), and F. rikae (Fraussen, 2003), earlier known only from Japan and/or the Philippines, are extended to the South Pacfic.