Leptadrillia lucaya, Fallon, Phillip J., 2016

Fallon, Phillip J., 2016, Taxonomic review of tropical western Atlantic shallow water Drilliidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Conoidea) including descriptions of 100 new species, Zootaxa 4090 (1), pp. 1-363 : 224-225

Leptadrillia lucaya , new species

( Plate 111 )

Type material. Holotype 16.5 x 3.9 mm, J. Worsfold! (ANSP 367901).

Type locality. Off Lucaya , Grand Bahama I., Bahama Is., 26°29'45"N, 078°37'15"W, in about 300 m.

Range and habitat. Known only from the holotype.

Description. Shell small (to 16.5 mm in total length), fusiform, long and spindly W/L = 0.236), translucent, thin and glossy-smooth, with up to 10¼ convex whorls with appressed sutures, whorls slightly angular at periphery of spire whorls, round on last, the last approximately 53% of the total length; sculpture of axial ribs; aperture narrowly oval. Protoconch of 2 smooth, glossy whorls, the first not immersed in the second. Axial sculpture of narrow ribs that run from suture-to-suture, reduced, and some obsolete on the whorl shoulders, also recurved on shoulder, especially on last whorl. Ribs slightly opisthocline, 14 are on penultimate, 12 on last whorl, about the same width as intercostal space. Spire whorls appearing nodulose on first 2, becoming less angular anteriorly; their peripheries below mid-whorl. Rib crests ridged. Growth striae microscopic, oblique to ribs, recurved in sulcal area. Varix absent on incompletely developed type specimen. Spiral sculpture absent, except for threads on anterior fasciole. Sulcus with reduced and obsolete ribs—forming a plain but narrow subsutural band. Outer lip not developed in type specimen. Anal sinus absent. Inner lip thin, undeveloped; no parietal callus. Anterior canal long, open, unnotched. Anterior fasciole not swollen; with spiral threads. Color translucent white; protoconch and first teleoconch whorl violet.

Remarks. Taxonomy. Leptadrillia lucaya has the characteristics of the genus: a spindle-shaped glossy shell with a long anterior canal that lacks spiral sculpture except on the anterior fasciole. Ribs reduced or obsolete in the sulcus, which is uncommon in members of the genus, but in all else it agrees with the generic diagnosis. Identification. Leptadrillia lucaya is similar to L. campechensis , new species, only larger, with a straighter anterior canal, and a violet, not white, protoconch. With a W/ L ratio of 0.236, it is the narrowest of the species in the genus. It is also larger than the other all-white species: L. splendida Bartsch, 1934 , L. lizae , new species, L. profunda , new species, and L. loria Bartsch, 1934 .

The single specimen of Leptadrillia lucaya is incompletely developed but sufficiently different from its most similar congeners, as described above, to merit its description. Because of its size and because it is the only Leptadrillia found in the Bahama Islands, it is believed to represent an undescribed species.

Etymology. The Lucayan Leptadrillia , named for Lucaya , the suburb of Freeport, Grand Bahama I., off which the type specimen was taken.

Figures

PLATE 111. Leptadrillia lucaya, new species. Figs. 1 – 2: holotype, off Lucaya, Grand Bahama I., Bahama Is. (ANSP 367901). Fig. 1: ventral, lateral & dorsal views; Fig. 2: enlarged view of protoconch (not to scale).