* Eucyclotoma cymatodes (Hervier 1897a)

(Figure 1E, F)

Daphnella cymatodes Hervier, 1897a, p. 47 . – Hervier, 1897b, p. 119, pl. 3, fig. 8. – Bouge and Dautzenberg, 1914, p. 208. Type loc.: Lifou.

Material examined

Nansha Is. 1 spec, CN 93NS8-3, Nansha Is. 67 m, 1 May 1993; Xisha Is. 1 spec, 58M- 1542, Shudao Island (Xisha Is.), 3 May 1958. Ilet Amédée, Lifou, MNHN, Bouge collection, 9.1 × 3.8 mm

Description

Shell rather oblong, with large, wide, sinuous aperture, expanded basally, base of columella slightly foreshortened; siphonal canal wide, rounded, not indented; suture narrow but, notched. Outer lip slightly thickened, with weakly nodular edge; anal sinus open, very widely concave, parietal pad slight thickening end of lip. Overall sculpture of dense spiral ridges, rendered granulose by crossing of even denser axial ribs; early whorls with submedian angle, later ones evenly convex except for two or three slightly stronger ridges below midwhorl. First teleoconch whorl with median keel, above and below single spiral ridge, cancellated by sinuous, suture-to-suture axial ribs, with foveolate interstices; keel weakening, number of ridges increasing with growth, third and penultimate whorls each with total of 13–15 spiral ridges, two or three (including the weakened keel) slightly stronger than others, all rendered somewhat nodular by close axial ribs, base of last whorl with 12 wide-set spiral ridges, bearing rounded nodules where intersected by axial riblets, plus seven smooth, rounded cords on rostrum. Offwhite, streaked with brown.

Distribution

Xisha Is., Nansha Is.; China to New Caledonia. Not previously recorded from the China Seas.

Remarks

The original four syntypes from Lifou were also checked. The species resembles Eucyclotoma carinulata (Souverbie, 1875) but differs from the latter in its much broader and finer spiral ridges, not conspicuously keeled. It can be distinguished from Daphnella tenuiclathrata (E. A. Smith 1882) by the coarser sculpture and base being not constricted. The species is differentiated from Daphnella crebriplicata (Reeve, 1846) by the presence of stronger spiral cords and the whorls are less convex, while D. crebriplicata lacks stronger spiral cords, and the whorls are more evenly convex.