Tudivasum Rosenberg & Petit, 1987

Vermeij, Geerat J., 2024, Shell-based genus-level reclassification of the Family Vasidae (Mollusca: Neogastropoda), Zootaxa 5405 (4), pp. 526-544 : 535

Genus Tudivasum Rosenberg & Petit, 1987

Type species. Tudicla armigera A. Adams, 1856 ; by original designation, Recent , Australia.

Diagnosis. Shell slender, pear-shaped to fusiform, light-weight; shell small to large, up to 103 mm in length; protoconch large; axial ribs present or absent; spiral sculpture consisting of fine cords which may bear very long spines On upper part of whorl and on siphonal canal; umbilicus absent; outer lip convex, glazed at edge and on abapertural side; inner lip shield-like with free edge; inner side of outer lip with or without brief lirae; siphonal canal very long, very narrow, ventrally open along entire length.

Included species (see Morrison et al. 2021). Tudivasum armigerum (A. Adams, 1856) , Queensland; T. ashmorense Morrison in Morrison, Kirkendale & Wilson, 2021 (northwest Australia); T. chaneyi Morrison in Morrison, Kirkendale & Wilson, 2021, (northwest Australia; T. inerme ( Angas 1878) , western Australia; T. kurzi ( Macpherson, 1964) , Western Australia to Arafura Sea; T. rasilistoma (Abbott, 1959) , warm-temperate eastern Australia; T. spinosum (H. & A. Adams, 1864), southwestern Australia to Queensland and southeastern Indonesia; T. westrale Morrison in Morrison, Kirkendale & Wilson, 2021, temperate Western Australia.

Material examined. Tudivasum armigerum : CAS Keppel Bay, Queensland; Townsville , Queensland; USNM Townsville , Queensland; Vermeij collection off Townsville . T. inerme : Vermeij collection, Thevenard Island , Western Australia . T. kurzi : CAS Scott Reef , northwest Australia . T. rasilistoma : CAS Keppel Bay , Queensland . T. spinosum : CAS Hummock Hill Island , Queensland; USNM Queensland . T. zanzibaricum : USNM 719128 , Zanzibar.

Remarks. This highly unusual genus of Vasidae has been thoroughly reviewed by Morrison et al. (2021). No other vasid has such a long, narrow, slender siphonal canal, and no vasid has spines as long as 30 mm (in T. kurzi ). T. zanzibaricum is the only species of the genus outside Australia. Like Abbott (1959), I have some doubt about whether this species belongs in Tudivasum , but I follow him and Morrison et al. (2021) in retaining its placement there.