Coralliophila squamosissima ( Smith, 1876 )

Oliverio, Marco, 2008, Coralliophilinae (Neogastropoda: Muricidae) from the southwest Pacific, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 196, pp. 481-586 : 506

Coralliophila squamosissima ( Smith, 1876)

Figs 29, 156

Rhizochilus (Coralliophila) squamosissimus Smith, 1876: 404 .

Synonym:

Coralliophila stearnsii Pilsbry, 1895: 45 , pl. 2, fig. 12.

Other references:

Coralliophila lischkeana - Oliver 1915: 537 (non Dunker, 1882).

Neothais clathrata - Willan 1998: 1, fig. 1 (non A. Adams, 1854).

Coralliophila sertata - Brook & Marshall 1998: 224 (non Hedley, 1903).

TYPE MATERIAL. — Rhizochilus squamosissimus : holotype BMNH 1876.5 .1.28, figured by Higo et al. (2001: G2391) . — Coralliophila stearnsii : syntype ANSP 56872 , figured by Kosuge & Suzuki (1985: pl. 46, fig. 8) and Higo et al. (2001: G2391s) .

TYPE LOCALITY. — R. squamosissimus: Rodriguez Island, Indian Ocean. — C. stearnsii : Japan.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — New Caledonia proper. LAGON: Wallis Island. MUSORSTOM 7: stn DW 604, 13°21’S, stn 280, Secteur de Nouméa , 22°22’S, 166°25’E, 24 m, 1 dd 176°08’W, 415-420 m, 1 dd juv .

(Figs 29, 156).

DISTRIBUTION. — Indo-West Pacific. Indian Ocean: Natal, South Africa ( Kosuge 1992), Réunion (Kosuge & Meyer 1999), eastern Arabia “in coral” ( Bosch et al. 1995), Rodriguez Is. ( Smith 1876). Pacific Ocean: Japan, “associated with large sea-anemones” (Tsuchiya 2000), Kermadec Islands and northeast North Island, New Zealand (0-23 m, live on and under intertidal rocks: Marshall & Oliverio in prep.). New Caledonia, one shell in 24 m, and Wallis Island, one juvenile shell in 415-420 m, probably drifted from shallower habitat.

REMARKS. — Protoconch, partly eroded, of 2.5+ whorls, 550+ Μm high and 780 Μm wide at the base. Protoconch-II with two spiral keels, sculptured by a series of subsutural nodulose threads and a series of similar threads over each keel. Threads tending to fuse, giving rise to collabral riblets at the end of the larval shell. A diffuse granulation is present in the interspaces. This species is undoubtedly related to Coralliophila clathrata (A. Adams, 1854) , with which it has sometimes been confused (see synonymy). Coralliophila squamosissima has more numerous and weaker primary spiral cords, and a more slender outline. Coralliophila sertata (Hedley, 1903) , with which it has also sometimes been confused, is a deep-water species, associated with black corals (antipatharians), and has an angulate periphery and stronger imbricating scaly spines on the spiral cords. Kilburn (1972) reported its association with Palythoa Lamouroux, 1816 (Zoanthidae) in South Africa [as C. meyendorffii (Calcara) ] and Robertson (1980) recorded C. squamosissima from Okinawa embedded in an encrusting Palythoa . Kosuge & Meyer (1999) reported the observation of a single living specimen on a rock “in high tide zone” and of free-living specimens in “the algal growth rock pool”, supposing a not “entirely parasitic” habit for the species. Although no data on the host of C. squamosissma from New Caledonia are available, it seems improbable that it is a non-corallivorous species, and more likely that it is associated with a Palythoa -like zoanthid (see also Marshall & Oliverio in prep.).