Teretia Norman, 1888

Ortega, José Rafael & Gofas, Serge, 2019, The unknown bathyal of the Canaries: new species and new records of deep-sea Mollusca, Zoosystema 41 (26), pp. 513-551 : 540

Genus Teretia Norman, 1888

Teretia Norman, 1888: 8 .

Azorilla Nordsieck, 1968: 184 , n. syn.

TYPE SPECIES. — Pleurotoma teres Reeve, 1844 , see discussion below.

REMARKS

Teretia was proposed as an emendation of Teres Bucquoy, Dautzenberg & Dollfus, 1883 (preoccupied by Teres Boettger, 1878, a clausilid land-snail), and later used as a substitute name. Bucquoy, Dautzenberg and Dollfus fixed Pleurotoma anceps Eichwald, 1830 , as the type species of Teres, but they used the name P.anceps for a Recent Mediterranean species and listed “ Pleurotoma teres Forbes (non Reeve)” in its synonymy. Pleurotoma teres Reeve, 1844 , was established for the Recent species, and Forbes is generally considered to have properly applied Reeve’s name, whereas P. anceps Eichwald, 1830 , is a distinct Miocene species from eastern Europe ( Janssen 1984; Bałuk 2003; Brunetti & Vecchi 2003). The name Teres Bucquoy, Dautzenberg & Dollfus, 1883 is therefore based on a misidentified type species and a type species should be fixed under ICZN Art. 70.3.2. Hereby we select Pleurotoma teres Reeve, 1844 as type species of Teres Bucquoy, Dautzenberg & Dollfus, 1883 and its substitute Teretia Norman, 1888 .

Horro & Rolán (2017) assigned to Teretia several species, among which Teretia strongyla ( Dall, 1927) and called attention on the peculiar microsculpture of granules which is diagnostic of this genus. Pleurotomella megalembryon , the type species of Azorilla Nordsieck, 1968 ( Fig. 23 A-F), has this microsculpture and has a protoconch very similar to that of the type species of Teretia ( Fig. 23G, H ). Pleurotomella megalembryon is perceived as congeneric with Teretia strongyla and consequently we consider Azorilla a subjective junior synonym of Teretia . Bouchet & Warén (1980) already noted that “ P. megalembryon has a sculpture which recalls that of Terelia teres ”. The details of the protoconch sculpture, in both cases with spiral rows of cross-shaped nodules on protoconch 1 and a typical raphitomine sculpture on protoconch 2, are also shared (see Fig. 23 E, H ).

Figures

FIG. 23. — A-F, Teretia megalembryon (Dautzenberg & H. Fischer, 1896) n. comb.: A, B, shell from DW 130 (height 2.8 mm); C, SEM micrograph of another specimen, same locality (height 2.1 mm); D, E, protoconch and detail of protoconch I, same specimen; F, detail of microsculpture on the shoulder, same specimen; G-I, Teretia teres (Reeve, 1844): G, protoconch of a specimen from Djibouti Banks, Alboran Sea; H, detail of protoconch I; I, detail of microsculpture on the shoulder, same specimen. Scale bars: A-C, E, F, I, 100 µm; D, G, 500 µm.