Episiphon sowerbyi (Guilding, 1834)

Caetano, Carlos Henrique Soares, Scarabino, Victor & Absalão, Ricardo Silva, 2006, Scaphopoda (Mollusca) from the Brazilian continental shelf and upper slope (13 º to 21 ºS) with descriptions of two new species of the genus Cadulus Philippi, 1844, Zootaxa 1267, pp. 1-47 : 27-29

Episiphon sowerbyi (Guilding, 1834)

Figs. 58–59

+ Dentalium sowerbyi Guilding 1834: 35 , pl. 3, fig. 7.

+ Dentalium (Episiphon) sowerbyi: Henderson 1920: 77 ; Maury 1922: 38; Turner 1955: 314; Abbott 1974: 387.

+ Dentalium (Episiphon) sowerbyi sowerbyi: Henderson 1920: 79 , pl. 13, figs. 2, 3, 10.

+ Dentalium (Episiphon) sowerbyi pelliceri Henderson 1920: 80 , pl. 13, figs. 7–9.

+ Episiphon sowerbyi: Scarabino 1985: 200 , pl. 73, fig. 1025; 1994: 308, pl. 107, fig. 1513; Redfern 2001: 191, pl. 76, fig. 783; Steiner and Kabat 2001: 444; 2004: 645.

Type material

not located.

Type locality

"in arenosis Oceani Caribaei" (by original designation).

Diagnosis

shell small (to 10 mm), slender, fine, slightly curved, translucent yellow. Close rings at apical portion fade through center of shell. Apical callous conspicuous, usually with short pipe. Oral, apical sections sligthly laterally compressed, lumen wide.

Material examined

IBUFRJ 10967, sta 1f, 1 dd; IBUFRJ 14250, sta C13, 2 dd; IBUFRJ 14251, sta 504, 3 dd; IBUFRJ 14311, sta 52, 1 dd.

Distribution

USA: North Carolina, Florida (Henderson 1920; Turner 1955); gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea: Cuba; Barbados (Henderson 1920; Lewis 1965); Brazil: off Amapá and Canyon of Amazon river (Scarabino 1985, 1994), Bahia and Rio de Janeiro (this study). Living 13 m to 150–200 m (Lewis 1965), shells down to 830 m (present paper).

Remarks

Episiphon sowerbyi differs from Ep. didymum by the presence of transversal rings in shell surface. This ringed sculpture fades at the middle of the shell in our specimens, but entire sculptured specimens were mentioned by Henderson (1920: pl. 13, fig. 10). Figure 59 shown detail of the ring sculpture under SEM magnification, and we could observe a papillated pattern of sculpture in these rings.

Figures

FIGURES 57 – 73. Genus Episiphon, Entalina, Polyschides and Cadulus. (57) Episiphon didymum, IBUFRJ 14310, 7 mm; (58 – 59) Episiphon sowerbyi, IBUFRJ 14250, 8 mm; (60 – 61) Entalina platamodes, IBUFRJ 13793, 10 mm; (62 – 63) Polyschides portoricensis, IBUFRJ 10576, 7 mm; (64 – 65) Polyschides tetraschistus, (64) Holotype BMNH 1887.2. 9.66, 7 mm, (65) IBUFRJ 14280, 6 mm; (66 – 69) Cadulus parvus, (66) Holotype USNM 314713, 5 mm, (67 – 69) IBUFRJ 9858, 5 mm; (70 – 71) Cadulus eliezeri n. sp., Holotype IBUFRJ 10810, 3 mm; (72 – 73) Cadulus nerta n. sp., Holotype IBUFRJ 14314, 3 mm. Scale bar = 50 m.