Benthonellania agastachys Bouchet & Warén, 1993

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 : 524

Benthonellania agastachys Bouchet & Warén, 1993 ( Fig. 8 A-D)

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 84 sh., DW130.

REMARK

Hernández et al. (2011) reported Benthonellania oligostigma Bouchet & Warén, 1993 from the Canaries, and illustrated a specimen (from the private collection of Winfried Engl, Germany) collected in 330 m depth off Fuerteventura. However B. oligostigma , originally described from off Madeira in 990 m depth, has a much more conical, not cyrtoconoid spire, has about half as many axial ribs as the species found in the Canaries, does not have a thickened outer lip and has a much more blurry spiral sculpture. Conversely, both our specimens and that illustrated by Hernández et al. adjust to Benthonellania agastachys , described from a single juvenile specimen collected in 500 m between Fuerteventura and Cape Juby, Morocco (actually in Moroccan waters but very close to the divide). Benthonellania agastachys was abundant in DW130 and a fully adult shell, with well-developed outer lip, is here figured.

Figures

FIG. 8. — A-D, Benthonellania agastachys Bouchet & Warén, 1993: A, B, shell from DW130 (height 2.5 mm); C, scanning electron micrograph of the protoconch in lateral view, the arrow points to the limit with teleoconch; D, detail of the microsculpture of the protoconch; E, F, Laeviphitus verduini van Aartsen, Bogi & Giusti, 1989, shell from DW133 (height 1.6 mm); new to Spanish waters; G-J, Larsenia scalaroides Warén, 1989: G, H, shell from DW130 (2.0 mm height); new to Spanish waters; I, SEM micrograph of a juvenile shell from DW130 (height 1.4 mm); J, protoconch. Scale bars: C, J, 200 µm; D, 20 µm.