Opimaphora blattereri Albano, Bakker & Sabelli, 2021

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

Opimaphora blattereri Albano, Bakker & Sabelli sp. nov. Figure 7

Type material.

Holotype. Egypt • sh; Sinai (Red Sea), Dahab, dive site “Islands”; 28.476°N, 34.513°E; depth 10 m; 2015; H. Blatterer leg.; NHMW-MO-113283.

Paratypes. Egypt • sh; same collecting data as for holotype; OLML LIEV 2019/70/2 (paratype 1) • sh; Sinai (Red Sea), Dahab, dive site “Labyrinth”; 28.478°N, 34.514°E; depth unspecified; 2011; H. Blatterer leg.; MNHN-IM-2014-7547 (paratype 2).

Additional material examined.

Egypt • 3 shs (juv. and fragments); same collecting data as for holotype • 9 shs (juv. and fragments); same collecting data as paratype 2 • 1 sh; Sinai (Red Sea), Dahab, dive site “Rick’s Reef"; 28.557°N, 34.524°E; 2012; H. Blatterer leg. • 1 sh; Sinai (Red Sea), Dahab, dive site “Caves”; 28.416°N, 34.456°E; depth 45 m; 2012; H. Blatterer leg. • 3 shs (juv.); Sinai (Red Sea), Dahab, dive site “Canyon”; 28.553°N, 34.522°E; depth 29 m; 2012; H. Blatterer leg. • 3 shs (juv.); Sinai (Red Sea), Dahab, Masbay Bay; 28.497°N, 34.518°E; depth 5 m; 2015; H. Blatterer leg. • 2 shs; Marsa Abu Makhadiq (Makadi Bay), SW side of bay, station 03; 26.9889°N, 33.9036°E; beached shell grit; 24 Sep. - 4 Oct. 1999; H. Dekker leg.; H. Dekker coll. reg. nos. 37192 and 37201).

Diagnosis.

Shell cyrtoconoid of less than 3 mm with 11 (holotype) or 12 (paratype 2) whorls and multispiral protoconch. Nucleus with hemispherical granules. Sculpture of three spiral cords with round tubercles larger than their interspaces; the second cord appears only on the fourth whorl, initially as a thin smooth thread. Microsculpture absent on the teleoconch whorls, present on the peristome, which bears bifurcating spiral cords.

Description.

Color: protoconch brown; whitish first teleoconch whorls with the first spiral cord becoming brown after two whorls. Light brown irregular patches are randomly distributed on the teleoconch, usually covering one or, more frequently, two tubercles. The base background is white, with the color patches of the last whorl extending onto it. The tip of the anterior siphon is brown.

Dimensions: H 2.7 mm, W 0.9 mm (holotype); H 2.6 mm, W 1.0 mm (paratype 1, without apex); H 3.0 mm, W 1.0 (paratype 2).

Protoconch: multispiral with 5.5 whorls (holotype), 5 (paratype 2, but first whorl worn); height: 566 µm (holotype), 644 µm (paratype 2).

Protoconch I: 1.5 whorls with hemispherical granules, nucleus with a height of 109 µm (holotype), 122 µm (paratype 2), and a maximum diameter of 371 µm (holotype), 380 µm (paratype 2).

Protoconch II: 3.5 whorls with axial orthogonal riblets with a maximum diameter of 371 µm (holotype), 380 µm (paratype 2). First two whorls monocarinated, then bicarinated.

Teleoconch: 6 (holotype), 7.5 (paratype 1), 7 (paratype 2) whorls, height: 2.24 mm (holotype), 2.43 mm (paratype 1), 2.50 mm (paratype 2).

The tuberculate first and third spiral cords start simultaneously after the protoconch with the same size, whereas the second cord appears from the fourth to the seventh teleoconch whorl, depending on shell size. This cord is initially thin and closer to the first one, it progressively increases its size until reaching that of the other two cords on the last whorl. On the second half of the shell, a very thin smooth suprasutural cord is visible. The second cord bifurcates on the peristome. The base shows a fourth rather smooth cord, and a fifth and sixth smooth ones; these cords become towards the peristome more granulated. On the peristome, below the third spiral thread, microsculpture is visible as fine spiral lines. Anterior siphonal canal tubular, short and oblique; posterior siphonal canal a simple notch.

Etymology.

This species is named after Hubert Blatterer, Austrian conchologist, in recognition of his work on Red Sea mollusks. Moreover, he contributed to our work on Lessepsian species by granting us access to the material he collected in the Red Sea and by donating the type series of O. blattereri and Coriophora lessepsiana . The species epithet is a noun in the genitive case.

Remarks.

We describe O. blattereri as new because of the similar color pattern to C. lessepsiana Albano, Bakker & Sabelli, sp. nov., even if it has not been reported from the Mediterranean Sea. The two species can be easily distinguished because C. lessepsiana has an monocarinated protoconch while O. blattereri has a bicarinated one; the second spiral cord of O. blattereri never becomes brownish as in C. lessepsiana ; O. blattereri has a white background on the base and a distinct brown end of the anterior siphonal canal, whereas C. lessepsiana has a light brown base and the anterior siphon has not a colored end; the teleoconch of O. blattereri has irregular light brown patches, particularly evident on fresh specimens; this feature is totally absent in C. lessepsiana .

We have seen specimens very similar to O. blattereri collected in Madagascar, New Caledonia, and French Polynesia. A revision of the group in the Indo-Pacific province is beyond the scope of this paper; however, this species likely has a broad distribution.

Opimaphora blattereri and C. lessepsiana share their color pattern of brown to orange spiral cords on a white background with other Indo-Pacific species. Litharium bilineatum (Kosuge, 1962) (holotype illustrated by Higo et al. (2001)), Costatophora iniqua ( Jousseaume 1898) (= Notosinister kawamurai Kosuge, 1962, type material illustrated by Higo et al. (2001) and Albano et al. (2019)) and Aclophora albozonata Laseron, 1958 can be easily distinguished by having three fully developed spiral cords since the early teleoconch. Iniforis formosula (Hervier, 1898) and Mastonia peanites Jousseaume, 1898 (= Mastonia squamosa Kosuge, 1962, type material again illustrated by Higo et al. (2001) and Albano et al. (2019)) have only two spiral cords, but the former has three or four dark brown lines on the last whorl, whereas the latter has a dark brown last whorl with lighter tubercles. Triphora fulvescens Hervier, 1898 also has a similar color pattern, but the second spiral cord remains a very fine thread even on the last whorl and the tubercles are whitish even on the first cord (on an orange background). Some species show a delayed appearance of the second spiral cord: Nototriphora regina (Hedley, 1903) has a brown tip of the anterior siphonal canal similarly to O. blattereri , but lacks the patches on the whorls and has an orange line on the third spiral cord on the last whorl; Coriophora tigris Laseron, 1958 has a paucispiral protoconch; Cautor similis (Pease, 1871) has larger and more densely arranged tubercles, a brown fourth spiral cord and white base. Last, a few species have a similar color pattern, but with an inverted pattern: the first spiral cord is white and the third orange to brown, like Mastonia cingulifera (Pease, 1861), which also has a dark yellow teleoconch, Mastonia funebris Jousseaume, 1884 and Mastonia tulipa Jousseaume, 1898 with a brown and white base, respectively.

Figures

Figure 7. Opimaphora blattereri Albano, Bakker & Sabelli, sp. nov., dive site " Islands ", Dahab, Sinai, Egypt A-J holotype, NHMW-MO- 113283: front (A, B), side (C, D) and back (E) views, nucleus (F), protoconch (G, H) and peristome (I, J) K-M paratype 1, LIEV 2019 / 70 / 2: front (K), side (L) and back (M) views. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (A-E, K-M), 0.1 mm (F); 0.2 mm (G, H); 0.3 mm (I, J).