Turbonilla funiculata de Folin, 1868

Albano, Paolo G., Steger, Jan, Bakker, Piet A. J., Bogi, Cesare, Bosnjak, Marija, Guy-Haim, Tamar, Huseyinoglu, Mehmet Fatih, LaFollette, Patrick I., Lubinevsky, Hadas, Mulas, Martina, Stockinger, Martina, Azzarone, Michele & Sabelli, Bruno, 2021, Numerous new records of tropical non-indigenous species in the Eastern Mediterranean highlight the challenges of their recognition and identification, ZooKeys 1010, pp. 1-95 : 1

Turbonilla funiculata de Folin, 1868 Figure 29

New records.

Israel • 2 spcms; west of Rosh HaNikra Islands; 33.0704°N, 35.0926°E; depth 12 m; 1 May 2018; rocky substrate; suction sampler; HELM project (sample S14_4F) • 15 spcms; same collecting data as for preceding; 29 Oct. 2018; HELM project (samples S52_1F, S52_2F, S52_3F); size: H 1.8 mm, W 0.6 mm (illustrated specimen).

Additional material examined.

China • 10 shs; Hong Kong, Tolo Channel, cove at Hoi Sing Wan; 22.430°N, 114.2467°E; depth 0 m; 6 Apr. 1985; sand, rock and oysters; J.H. McLean leg.; LACM 1985-12.2.

Pakistan • 4 shs; Sind Province, small cove 4.8 km west of atomic power plant and 7 km west-northwest of Bulegi Point; 24.8000°N, 66.7250°E; depth 0-4 m; 19 Jan. 1979; rock and clay; C.C. Swift leg.; LACM 1979-1.3.

Sri Lanka • 1 sh; Southern Province, Tangalla, cove at Tangalla Bay Hotel; 6.0250°N, 80.8000°E; depth 0-1 m; 30-31 Jan. 1983; rock and clay; A.J. Ferreira leg.; LACM 1983-5.2.

Vietnam • 1 sh; station 1328 of the Nha-Trang Oceanography Institute: "Entre les îles des Pêcheurs, Hon-Mung, le banc du Castleragh et l’isobathe 50. (En dehors et au S. de la baie de Nha-Trang)" [between Îles des Pêcheurs, Hon-Mung, Banc du Castleragh (= Castlereagh) and isobath 50. (outside of and to the south of the Bay of Nha-Trang)]; sediment sample; dredge; MNHN-IM-2000-21843 (holotype of Pyrgiscus mirandus Saurin, 1959).

Remarks.

Shells of Turbonilla funiculata are polymorphic with respect to their shape ( Peñas and Rolán 2010 and our own observations) but the species can be readily distinguished from all pyramidellids in the Mediterranean - the most similar being the non-indigenous Turbonilla edgarii (Melvill, 1896), Turbonilla flaianoi Mazziotti, Agamennone, Micali & Tisselli, 2006 and Pyrgulina fischeri Hornung & Mermod, 1925 - by the presence of a very marked subsutural constriction running along the whorls. This constriction separates the pronounced, almost orthocline axial ribs into a larger lower and a narrow upper, crown-like, portion. The ribs extend adapically beyond the suture of the preceding whorl, giving the transition zone between subsequent whorls a wavy appearance. The interspaces of the lower portion of the ribs bear several thin spiral lines, while those between the narrow upper parts of the ribs are smooth. The protoconch is helicoid and of type A.

Turbonilla funiculata has been previously reported from Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Thailand, the Solomon Islands and Vietnam from shore to 396 m depth ( Robba et al. 2004; Peñas and Rolán 2010). As Robba et al. (2004) already pointed out, the shell figured as Pyrgiscus microscopica (Laseron, 1959) by Okutani (2000: 712, fig. 68) is most likely T. funiculata , confirming that the species also occurs in Japan. This interpretation is re-affirmed by another illustration of the very same Japanese specimen in Mazziotti et al. (2005: 81, fig. 1m, n), showing the subsutural constriction characteristic of T. funiculata . Shells of T. funiculata were found by one of us (PILF) also among hitherto unidentified lots of shells from Pakistan and Sri Lanka housed in the LACM collection, demonstrating that this species also lives in the Indian Ocean. Here, we report the first records of T. funiculata for the Mediterranean, where several living specimens were collected in northern Israel on hard substrates at 12 m depth.

Figures

Figure 29. Turbonilla funiculata de Folin, 1868, west of Rosh HaNikra Islands, Israel, HELM project (sample S 52 _ 2 F): front (A, B) and back (C, D) views, detail of the sculpture on the base (E), aperture (F), detail of the sculpture on the back of the third whorl (G), apical (H) and side (I) views of the protoconch. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (A-D); 0.1 mm (E, H, I); 0.2 mm (F, G).