Naquetia Jousseaume, 1880

Houart, Roland & Héros, Virginie, 2013, Description of new Muricidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) collected during the ATIMO VATAE expedition to Madagascar “ Deep South ”, Zoosystema 35 (4), pp. 503-523 : 510

Genus Naquetia Jousseaume, 1880

TYPE SPECIES. — Murex triqueter Born, 1778 , Indo-West Pacific (by original designation).

REMARKS

Naquetia and Chicomurex Arakawa, 1964 are two muricine genera with closely similar shell morphology, with an average height of 40-120 mm in Naquetia and 30-85 mm in Chicomurex . The protoconch is paucispiral, consisting of 1.5- 2 whorls, or conical of sinusigera type, with 3-3.5 glossy whorls, usually with a narrow keel abapically. Each teleoconch whorl bears three rounded, squamous varices from the second or third whorl, with short, broadly open spines connected by squamous webbing. The radula is similar in the two genera, consisting of crowded rows of teeth with a rachidian bearing a large, broad, triangular central cusp ( Houart 1992: figs 116-128) and Figure 8A, B .

The type species of Chicomurex , C. laciniatus (Sowerby, 1841) differs from the type species of Naquetia in having a broader and more globose shell, a comparatively lower spire and a proportionally larger and broader aperture. Within these two genera, all species consistently exhibit this distinction. The two genera are also distinct in a molecular phylogenetic analysis ( Barco et al. 2010).

The new species described here is included in Naquetia in spite of the slightly broader shell relative to its length compared to other Naquetia species and the relatively low spire. However, it differs from Chicomurex in having a short, broad, squamous siphonal canal, relatively shorter variceal spines and a more strongly triangular outline, which are typical characters of Naquetia .

Figures

FIG. 8. — Radulae; A, B, Naquetia manwaii n. sp., holotype MNHN 26506,A, Scale bar:100 µm; B, Scale bar:10 µm; C-E, Semiricinula bozzettii n. sp.; C, paratype MNHN 26527, Scale bar: 50 µm; D, E, paratype MNHN 26526; D, Scale bar: 50 µm; E, Scale bar: 10 µm; F, Semiricinula turbinoides (Blainville, 1832), Balicasag, Philippines, RH, Scale bar: 60 µm.