Coralliophila, H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853

Oliverio, Marco, 2008, Coralliophilinae (Neogastropoda: Muricidae) from the southwest Pacific, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 196, pp. 481-586 : 485

Genus CORALLIOPHILA H. & A. Adams, 1853

Coralliophila H. & A. Adams, 1853: 135. Type species (by subsequent designation of Iredale 1912): Fusus neritoideus Lamarck, 1816 (= Purpura violacea Kiener, 1836 ).

Synonyms:

Coralliobia H. & A. Adams, 1853: 138. Type species (by monotypy): Concholepas (Coralliobia) fimbriata A. Adams 1854 ; Recent, Indo-West Pacific.

Galeropsis Hupé, 1860: 125 . Type species (by monotypy): Galeropsis lavenayanus Hupé, 1860 ; Lower Miocene, France.

Pseudomurex Monterosato, 1872: 15 . Type species (by original designation): Murex meyendorffii Calcara, 1845 ; Recent, Northeastern Atlantic.

Quoyula Iredale, 1912: 221 . Type species (by original designation): Purpura monodonta Blainville, 1832 ; Recent, Indo-Pacific.

Reliquiaecava Massin, 1987: 81 . Type species (by original designation): Leptoconchus robillardi Liénard, 1870 . Recent, Indo- Pacific.

Rhombothais Woolacot, 1954: 38 . Type species (by original designation): Rhombothais arbutum Woolacot, 1954 Recent , Australia.

REMARKS. — There is strong molecular evidence that the genus Coralliophila as commonly conceived is polyphyletic. Data from the genes ITS2 ( Oliverio, Cervelli & Mariottini 2002) and 12S ( Oliverio & Mariottini 2001) show that the type species of the genus, Coralliophila violacea , along with C. erosa (Röding, 1798) belong in the same clade as species of Babelomurex and Latiaxis . Thus, the genus is here used in a wide sense ( Coralliophila s.l.), since further morphological and molecular work is needed to define the limits of the genus in its strict sense.

A core of species that are morphologically very similar to the type species may form a monophyletic clade to which the genus name may apply in a strict sense ( Coralliophila violacea (Kiener, 1836) , C. squamulosa (Reeve, 1846) , C. radula (A. Adams, 1855) , C. bulbiformis Conrad, 1837 , C. costularis (Lamarck, 1816) and probably C. latilirata Rehder, 1985 from Polynesia and C. confusa Kosuge, 1986 and C. mira ( Cotton & Godfrey, 1932) from Australia).

Galeropsis Hupé, 1860 (I agree with Lozouet and Renard (1998) in treating Quoyula Iredale, 1912 as a junior synonym) and Pseudomurex Monterosato, 1872 , are among the names available for the species excluded from the Coralliophila s.s. clade. “ Coralliophora ” as reported by Dall (1889: 217) is evidently a lapsus calami for Coralliophila .