Antonio Bonfitto

CHITONS (POLYPLACOPHORA) FROM PALEOGENE STRATA IN WESTERN WASHINGTON STATE, U.S.A.

Abstract Recent collecting provided fossil chitons (Mollusca, Polyplacophora) from upper Eocene to lower Oligocene deposits of Washington State, U.S.A. The study material consists of 140 valves from six localities in the Quimper, Makah, Lincoln Creek, Crescent and Gries Ranch formations. The material is mostly incomplete or very fragmented and/or worn so that a precise appreciation of diagnostic features has been in many cases difficult if not impossible. Fourteen species were identified, seven are described as new: Lepidopleurus propecajetanus n. sp., Leptochiton sp., Ischnochiton goederti n. sp., Ischnochiton? sp. A, Ischnochiton? sp. B, Stenoplax quimperensis n. sp., Stenoplax sp. A, Stenoplax sp. B, Lepidozona cowlitzensis n. sp., Lepidochitona lioplax (Berry, 1922), Lepidochitona washingtonensis n. sp., Lepidochitona squiresi n. sp., Lepidochitona sp. and Craspedochiton eernissei n. sp. The only species previously described from the study area is Lepidochitona lioplax and it is also the most common chiton in the study material (67% of the total). No species other than L. lioplax has been found in more than one locality. In four of these localities only a single species has been collected. The basal Lincoln Creek Formation at the Porter Creek site supplied the richest and most diverse chiton assemblage with seven species and 86% of the valves. The discovery and formal identification of such a diverse Paleogene fauna from the northeastern Pacific provides a comparative base for a better appreciation of Polyplacophora biogeography and evolution.

Notes on fossil chitons. 5. Polyplacophora from the Pliocene of Western Liguria, Northwest Italy

This study describes the chiton fauna (Mollusca, Polyplacophora) from deposits of the Pliocene marine sequence of Western Liguria in northwestern Italy between Genova (Genoa) and Ventimiglia. The studied fossils consist of 9,657 valves from nine sites (Bussana, Rio SantAntonino, Garlenda, Salea, Caranchi, Rio Torsero, Zinola, Sestri Ponente, and Borzoli; see Fig. 1) taken from the lower clayey formation named Argille di Ortovero (Ortovero Clay). From these we identified 31 species, 22 of which were already known, 5 are identified only at generic level, and four are described as new: Leptochiton josei sp. n., Ischnochiton ligusticus sp. n., Connexochiton roccai sp. n., and Lepidochitona pliocinerea sp. n. Only three species ( Lepidopleurus cajetanus, Chiton corallinus and Acanthochitona fascicularis ) occur in all the studied sites but, even so, it is difficult to evaluate their relative prevalence. Ch. corallinus and Lepidop. cajetanus are most common, representing 46%xa0 and 31% respectively of the total valves found. Some species found are particularly noteworthy; Lept. alveolus previously not known as a fossil, except a dubiously identified record from the Eocene/Oligocene of Washington; Lept. bedullii and I. martinelli are known only from few Pliocene localities. Four species are described as new, and this increases the number of Mediterranean Pliocene determined species known to 37. Connexochiton roccai sp. n. represent the first report of Connexochiton as a fossil. Seventeen (55%) of the species found are still living in the Mediterranean Sea and 13 of these also occur in the eastern Atlantic. Only one species, Lept. alveolus , occurs as a living species in the Atlantic but is absent from the Mediterranean Sea. Five determined species are known only from Mediterranean Pliocene, and 12 are recorded for the first time from the Ligurian Pliocene. The analysis of the Ligurian samples suggests a shallow water depositional environment, possibly from lower infralittoral to circalittoral depth, and suggests a mixture of faunal elements from different depths and environments.

New Indo-Pacific species of the genus Teretia Norman, 1888 (Gastropoda: Raphitomidae).

Four new species are assigned to the genus Teretia Norman, 1888 in the family Raphitomidae Bellardi, 1875 and herein described: Teretia neocaledonica sp. nov., T. sysoevi sp. nov., T. tongaensis sp. nov. from the southeastern Pacific and Teretia tavianii sp. nov. from the Gulf of Aden. The new species represent the first Indo-Pacific record of a genus previously known in the recent molluscan fauna by only two species from the Atlantic Ocean-Mediterranean Sea and Southern Africa. A possible Tethyan origin for the genus Teretia is suggested.xa0

New species of Epitoniidae (Gastropoda: Epitonioidea) from the Red Sea

ABSTRACT Based on material stored in the Zoological Museum of the University of Bologna (MZB), four new species of epitoniids from the shallow waters of the Red Sea are described: Epitonium (Laeviscala) yemenita n. sp., Epitonium (Laeviscala) morassii n. sp., Epitonium (Labeoscala) zabargadense n. sp. and Epitonium (Labeoscala) aranea n. sp. Scanning electron microscope illustrations of type specimens of Scalaria gracilis Sowerby, 1844, Scalaria fucata Pease, 1861, Graciliscala histricosa Jousseaume, 1912, Graciliscala rostrata Jousseaume, 1912, Scala rissoinaeformis Melvill, 1903 and Scala thelcteria Melvill & Standen, 1903 are given. Systematic remarks on some species belonging to the subgenus Laeviscala are treated in additional notes. A lectotype of Graciliscala histricosa is designated. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8304A24D-5985-43D5-AEBF-1A7ED39A1F1C

Two new Horaiclavus (Horaiclavidae, Conoidea) species from the Indo-Pacific region

The genus Horaiclavus includes eight Holocene Indo-Pacific species (Appeltans et al. 2012). Herein, we describe two new species that resemble members of this genus in some aspects of shell morphology, but otherwise show features that suggest that they differ from typical Horaiclavus species. Descriptions and measurements were based on shells oriented spire up with the aperture facing the viewer and made using a Leica MS 5 Stereomicroscope for incident light and a 10× ocular micrometer. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs were taken using a Hitachi S-2400. The classification adopted here follows Bouchet et al. (2011). The following abbreviations are used in the text: MZB = Museo di Zoologia dellUniversità di Bologna; MNHN = Muséum National dHistoire Naturelle, Paris, France; NHMUK = The Natural History Museum of United Kingdom [formerly British Museum (Natural History)], London, United Kingdom; ZMA = Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, the Netherlands; ZRC = Zoological Reference Collection, Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, Singapore; a = aperture length; b = shell width; l = length; a/l = ratio of aperture length to total shell length; b/l = ratio of shell breadth to total length; dd= dead collected specimen(s); stn. = station.

New Indo-Pacific species of Rimosodaphnella Cossmann, 1916 (Gastropoda: Conoidea): a genus of probable Tethyan origin

The genus Rimosodaphnella Cossmann, 1916 was proposed for Murex textile Brocchi, 1814, a European Miocene–Pliocene species, and is sometimes thought to be represented in the recent fauna by three Atlantic species. Here, we assign only one Atlantic species, Pleurotoma (Drillia) morra Dall, 1881 distributed from North Carolina to Southern Brazil, to the genus and introduce three new species of Rimosodaphnella from the Indo-Pacific region. One, Rimosodaphnella solomonensis, n. sp. from the Solomon Islands, while two others, Rimosodaphnella tenuipurpurata n. sp. and Rimosodaphnella brunneolineata n. sp., from the Philippines Islands; these findings suggest that the genus may be well represented in the Indo-Pacific region. http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pubBD6E8AA4-445C-43A5-8171-65A7CE8BA20B