ISSN 2755-3531
Opisthobranchiate Mollusca from Ghana: Flabellinidae, Piseinotecidae, Eubranchidae & Embletoniidae
Malcolm Edmunds
Abstract. This paper describes eight species of aeolid from Ghana, belonging to the families Flabellinidae, Piseinotecidae, Eubranchidae and Embletoniidae. Three of the species are new: Flabellina rubromaxilla n. sp., Eubranchus rubrocerata n. sp. and Piseinotecus minipapilla n. sp., while a fourth, Embletonia species A may be a currently undescribed species. Embletonia pulchra is cosmopolitan in its occurrence, Flabellina albomaculata is also known from Cape Verde, and Piseinotecus sphaeriferus and Eubranchus prietoi are known from some of the East Atlantic Islands and the Mediterranean.
Key words. Flabellinidae, Piseinotecidae, Eubranchidae, Embletoniidae
New taxa. Flabellina rubromaxilla Edwards, 2015; Eubranchus rubrocerata Edwards, 2015; Piseinotecus minipapilla Edwards, 2015
Date of publication. November 2015
Opisthobranchiate Mollusca from Ghana: Facelinidae
Malcolm Edmunds
Abstract. Descriptions are given of twelve species of nudibranch aeolid from Ghana belonging to the family Facelinidae. Two of the species are new: Cratena tema n. sp., and Godiva brunnea n. sp., while three more, Facelinidae species A, B and C, appear to be currently undescribed species. Many of the twelve species are capable of living among the fouling community in harbours and on boat hulls; as a consequence several of these have an amphiatlantic geographical range while one species, Godiva quadricolor, also occurs widely in the Indian Ocean.
Key words. Facelinidae, aeolids, taxonomy, west Africa
New taxa. Cratena tema Edmunds, 2015; Godiva brunnea Edmunds, 2015
Date of publication. November 2015
Morphology of Fasciolaria tulipa from Venezuela (Gastropoda: Buccinoidea: Fasciolariidae)
Diogo R. Couto, Luiz Ricardo L. Simone & Alexandre D. Pimenta
Abstract. The morphology of Fasciolaria tulipa, type species for the genus, is described and illustrated. Features of the shell, head-foot, pallial organs, circulatory, excretory, digestive and reproductive systems are presented, along with comparisons of published descriptions of other members of Fasciolariidae. The anatomical features concord with previous characterizations of the family: proboscis retractor as a single and powerful muscle, lateral teeth of the radula wide and multicuspidate, ducts of the salivary glands immersed in the esophagus wall, and stomach without a posterior sorting area. Fasciolaria tulipa is notable for a large, thin walled auricle, a conspicuous nephridial gland, and a renal aperture sited close to the pericardium; also the odontophore cartilages are fused anteriorly in only 10% of their length, and the radula has the central side of the base of the lateral tooth rounded, a trait that is shared with other species of the subfamily Fasciolariinae. As the type of the genus, the soft-parts anatomy of F. tulipa is of great importance, especially because recent taxonomic revisions of the Fasciolariinae have not considered anatomical data.
Key words. Fasciolariidae, Fasciolaria tulipa, anatomy, morphology
Date of publication. November 2015
J.A. Allen
Abstract. An account is given of two hadal bivalves obtained from box core and epibenthic sled samples taken from the bottom of the Philippine Trench between 9600 m to 9807 m. Additional data on the protobranch Parayoldiella hadalis are presented and a new species of Thyasiridae (Axinulus philippinensis sp. nov.) is described.
Key words. Parayoldiella, Axinulus, Bivalvia, Philippine Trench, hadal, anatomy
New taxon. Axinulus philippinensis Allen, 2015
Date of publication. November 2015
Anna Holmes, David Fenwick, Paul Gainey & Tracey Williams
Abstract. After the storms of 2013, a chance find of a beached coconut on the SW coast of England apparently provided the first British record of Martesia fragilis Verrill & Bush, 1898. However, re-examination of museum collections revealed another specimen dating from the late nineteenth century, taken from Galway, Eire. Species of Martesia are notoriously difficult to separate and so here we provide outline descriptions of the three Atlantic species of Martesia with particular attention to the mesoplax in order to assist with any future finds on British shores.
Key words. Martesia, Britain, Ireland, Martesia fragilis, new record
Date of publication. November 2015
Martin J. Willing
Abstract. The invasive Gulf Wedge Clam, Rangia cuneata is reported new to the UK from two sites along an artificial channel joining the lower reaches of the River Witham in Lincolnshire. This bivalve occurred in association with another invasive North American species, the False Dark Mussel, Mytilopsis leucophaeata, at its fourth UK site. Both of these species, known previously only from brackish-water, were living in freshwater associated with typical freshwater molluscs. Shell morphometrics suggest that both species have been present in the channel for at least 6 years, when they are likely to have been introduced as a consequence of discharge of boat ballast water.
Key words. Rangia cuneata, Mytilopsis leucophaeata, invasive species, Mactridae, Dreissenidae, South Forty Foot Drain, River Witham
Date of publication. November 2015
Aydin Örstan & Robert A. D. Cameron
Abstract. The European land snail Cepaea nemoralis was introduced into Burlington, New Jersey, USA by William G. Binney in 1857 with specimens from near Sheffield, England. First in 1869 and later in 1878, Binney noted that the species had become widespread throughout the city. Between 1908 and 1933, Henry A. Pilsbry collected a large number of C. nemoralis shells in Burlington and noted that the species was still abundant in the early 1930s. A survey done in Burlington in 2013 and 2014 that included some of Pilsbry’s localities found only six live snails and six empty shells. The only live snails were found near where Binney’s house was in the nineteenth century. Our results show that both the range and the population of C. nemoralis in the city have declined drastically since the 1930s. The Burlington colony of C. nemoralis is characterized by high frequencies of unbanded or one-banded morphs. This suggests that Binney’s founding lot may have originated from the White Peak district of Derbyshire near Sheffield, England.
Key words. William G. Binney, alien species, population decline, Helicidae
Date of publication. November 2015
A. A. Wardhaugh
Abstract. Variation in several shell features of five populations of Clausilia bidentata (Ström 1765) in north-east Yorkshire (VC 62), England, was recorded over a three year period. Mean shell height was found to differ significantly and consistently over the three years between population samples. Moreover, mean shell height rose in all five populations between the first and second year and then fell slightly in the third year, a pattern that may result from variation in weather conditions at a regional level. Shell height was found to vary proportionately more than shell breadth, thus taller shells were on average proportionately narrower and not simply bigger versions of the same conispiral. Greater shell height appears to be a result of both the development of additional whorls and increased pitch during growth. Overall, 4.79% (24/502) of shells had the parietal area of the lip attached to the adjacent whorl. The frequency of this minor variant showed neither any association with other factors investigated nor any consistent pattern in occurrence. The number of extralamellar denticles varied from none to (rarely) three and fluctuated between population samples and between years for each population with no evident pattern.
Key words. Clausilia bidentata, shell, variation, England
Date of publication. November 2015
A neotype for Helix cincta Müller, 1774 (Gastropoda, Pulmonata, Helicidae)
Folco Giusti, Viviana Fiorentino & Giuseppe Manganelli
Abstract. As currently conceived, Helix cincta Müller, 1774, is widespread in the north-east Mediterranean from Italy to the Middle East. Recent phylogenetic research shows that it is not monophyletic and raises the question of which of its clades includes the true species of Müller. Unfortunately the type material no longer exists, the original description is defective and no precise type locality is available. To definitively clarify its identity, a neotype is designated according to Rossmässle’s interpretation that it was mainly an Italian species.
Key words. Helix cincta, type material, nomenclature, taxonomy, geographic distribution
Date of publication. November 2015
Maurício R. Fernandes & Alexandre D. Pimenta
Abstract. The present study reveals for the first time the structure of the protoconch of Strobiligera torticula (Dall, 1881) comb. nov., being of the multispiral type, with arrowhead-shaped granules on the embryonic shell and incomplete axial sculpture on the larval shell. Strobiligera torticula is another example of deep-sea species in Triphoroidea that probably realize ontogenetic migration, by possessing a brown protoconch indicative of an epipelagic larval phase.
Key words. Triphoroidea, deep-sea, ontogenetic migration, taxonomy
Date of publication. November 2015