Eulimella smithii ( Verrill, 1880 )

Pimenta, Alexandre Dias, Santos, Franklin Noel Dos & Absalão, Ricardo Silva, 2011, Taxonomic revision of the genus Eulimella (Gastropoda, Pyramidellidae) from Brazil, with description of three new species, Zootaxa 3063 (1), pp. 22-38 : 25-27

Eulimella smithii ( Verrill, 1880)

Figures 1–10

Turbonilla smithii Verrill (1880) : 380; Johnson (1989): 64 –65.

Eulima unifasciata auct. non Forbes, 1844: Tryon (1886): 342, pl. 77, fig. 73; Dall (1889): 338, pl. XIX, fig. 11c; Peñas & Rolán in part (1999): 163–164, figs. 32.

Eulimella smithii: Verrill (1882) : 538, pl. LVIII, fig. 18.

Pyramidella (Syrnola) smithi: Bartsch (1909) : 71, pl. 11, figs 11, 15.

Odostomia (Syrnola) smithii: Abbott (1974) : 299.

Ptycheulimella sp. : Mello (1993): 45, fig. 5b.

Types and type locality. Lectotype: USNM 45482, off Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA, Fish Hawk sta 871 (40 o 02´54”N, 70 o 23´40”W, 210 m); paralectotype: USNM 45482, type locality; YPM 15752, type locality ( Johnson, 1989); YPM 15753, off Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, USA, Fish Hawk sta 876 (39 o 57´N, 70 o 56´W, 220 m) ( Johnson, 1989).

Material examined. The types from USNM and: -- Brazil: -- Espírito Santo state: MNHN, MD 55 sta DC75, [1]; MNHN, MD 55 sta CB76, [31]; MNHN, MD 55 sta CB104, [1]; MNHN, MD55 sta CB104, [1]; MNHN, MD 55 sta CB105 [1]; IBUFRJ 8891 , off Camburi, 30/ix/1986 [2]; IBUFRJ 8892 , off Camburi, 12/ii/1986 [2]; IBUFRJ 8893 , off Camburi, 30/i/1986 [1]; IBUFRJ 8894 off Camburi (60m), 12/ii/1987 [1 shell]; IBUFRJ 10295 , off Camburi (60 m), 07/v/1986 [1]; IBUFRJ 8890 , off Camburi, v/1986 [5]; -- Rio de Janeiro state: MNRJ 15393 , PADCT, sta 6541 [1]; IBUFRJ 2992 , off Cabo Frio (22º58’55”S, 42º03’19”W, iii/1992, AG coll. [6]; IBUFRJ 8895 , REVIZEE sta VV38, 29/ii/1996, NOAN coll. [1]; IBUFRJ 8896 , Cabo Frio VII sta 6194 [1]; IBUFRJ 8897 , Cabo Frio VII sta 6192 [1]; IBUFRJ 8942 , Cabo Frio VII sta 6165 [8]; IBUFRJ 8941 , Cabo Frio VII sta 6177 [4]; IBU- FRJ 8943, Cabo Frio VII sta 6198 [1], IBUFRJ 13826 , 22º58’55”S 42º03’19”W, iii/1992, AG coll. [1]; -- São Paulo state: MZSP 84879 , Baía de Castelhanos, Ilhabela (70m), NOWB coll., ii/1970 [2]; MNHNM 11536 , 24 o 28´/ 44 o 50´W (110m), L. Tommasi col., 19/vi/1962 [1]; MZSP 93766 , PADCT, sta 6627 [3]; MZSP 93767 , REVIZEE sta 6662 [4]; MZSP 93768 , REVIZEE sta 6669 [8]; MZSP 93769 , PADCT, sta 6571 [4]; MZSP 93770 , REVIZEE sta 6666 [2]; MZSP 93771 , REVIZEE sta 6673 [1]; MZSP 93772 , REVIZEE sta 6677 [2]; MZSP 93773 , PADCT, 6579 [13]; MNRJ 15394 , REVIZEE sta 6678 [2]; MZSP 93774 , REVIZEE sta 6658 [11]; MZSP 93776 , REVIZEE sta 6657 [3]; MZSP 93777 , REVIZEE sta 6656 [2]; MZSP 93778 , PADCT, sta 6631 [1]; MNRJ 15395 , REVIZEE sta 6652 [2]; -- Paraná state: MZSP 93779 , PADCT, sta 6595 [15]; MZSP 93780 , PADCT, sta 6635 [1]; MZSP 93781 , PADCT, sta 6606 [1]; -- Rio Grande do Sul state: MORG 14546 , off Tramandaí (80m), Mestre Jerônimo coll., v/1969 [3]; MORG 16950 , off Hermenegildo (120m), NOAS coll, iii/1972 [2]; --off Uruguay: MNHNM 11580 , [3]; MNHNM 2006 /02, [1].

Characterization. Shell tall, with elongate turriform conical shape, reaching 10.27 mm in length; glossy white, with a spiral yellow band on each teleoconch whorl, just above suture, varying from a thin defined line to a diffuse band. Teleoconch with up to 11 whorls, almost rectilinear in profile, with tiny convexity above suture. Suture shallow, rectilinear. Protoconch heterostrophic planispiral, type B with “spiral” shaped suture and ~2.25 whorls; diameter 322 µm to 368 µm (mean = 329µm, n=15). Axial sculpture absent, except for growth lines, more evident as short microscopic axial threads organized in a belt at middle of each teleoconch whorl, not visible on all whorls and shells. Spiral sculpture absent. Aperture ovoid to subquadrate, inner lip slightly projected into parietal region; columella with well-developed columellar fold. Outer lip thin. Not umbilicate.

Dimensions. Maximum shell length / width: 10.27 mm / 2.18 mm (11 teleoconch whorls); maximum protoconch width: 368 µm.

Geographic distribution. USA: off Massachusetts, New Jersey, Florida; Barbados ( Rosenberg, 2009); Brazil: continental slope of northeastern and southern coasts, up to 637m off Cabo Frio, Rio de Janeiro state; Uruguay: north coast.

Remarks. Peñas and Rolán (1999) designated the type specimen labeled USNM 45482 as lectotype for E. smithii . We examined this lot, where we found the two shells mentioned by Peñas and Rolán (1999): the lectotype (Fig. 1), which corresponds to the illustrated shell by Verrill (1882); and a shell with broken apex, herein considered a paralectotype.

Previous to the lectotype designation, Johnson (1989), in a paper listing the molluscan taxa described by A. E. Verrill, considered the shell illustrated in Verrill (1882) as the “figured holotype ”. Johnson (1989) also considered the existence of two “ paratypes ”, at YPM (from Fish Hawk sta 871 and 876). In the original description, Verrill (1880) did not illustrate or indicate the holotype, but only listed specimens from “sta 871, 873 and 876, in 100 to 120 fathoms”, without indicating collection number for the types. The designation of lectotype by Peñas & Rolán (1999) stabilized the nomenclature of this species.

FIGURE 1–10. Eulimella smithii . 1–3, 7, 10. whole shells (lengths: 1. 6.3 mm; 2. 6.5 mm; 3. 6.5 mm; 7. 6.5 mm; 10. 6.64 mm); 4. last whorl; 5–6. protoconchs; 8–9. detail of sculpture. 1. Lectotype (USNM 45482). 2 MNRJ 15394; 3–5, 7–9. MNRJ 15395. 6. MNRJ 15394. 10. IBUFRJ 8892. Scale bars: 1-3, 7, 10. 1.0mm; 4. 500 µm; 5–6, 8. 200 µm; 9. 50 µm.

Peñas and Rolán (1999) considered Eulimella smithii a junior synonym of Eulimella unifasciata ( Forbes, 1844) , since they found no differences in the shells of both species. Eulimella unifasciata , illustrated by Jeffreys (1884), by Aartsen (1994) and by Ardovini & Cossignani (2004), has its type locality in the Aegean Sea and is a well-known and widely distributed species in the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic. It is characterized by a golden-yellow band encircling the whorls just above the suture, and a slight fold on the columella ( Aartsen, 1994; Peñas & Rolán, 1999). The possibility of an amphi-Atlantic species was suggested when Jeffreys (1884: 342) suggested that E. unifasciata “is the Eulimella smithii of Verrill”. Subsequently, Tryon (1886) considered E. unifasciata and E. smithii as the same species, and Dall (1889) reported E. unifasciata from the Blake Expedition in the western Atlantic. Aartsen (1994), on the other hand, considered that the matter of conspecificity between E. unifasciata and E. smithii requires further study, rejecting the synonymy.

Eulimella smithii is indeed very similar to E. unifasciata , both in general shell shape and in the presence of the yellow spiral band on the whorls. Pimenta et al. (2009) advocated that for cases of identical shells occurring at distant locations in the Atlantic, but without enough information on biology or development of Pyramidellidae to accept amphiatlantism, separate names should be maintained. We do not categorically reject the possibility of an amphi-Atlantic species, but we believe that up to now, the available data on the biology and developmental patterns in Pyramidellidae are insufficient to support such a wide distribution in the family.

In Brazil, we found several shells that have the characteristic spiral color band (Figs. 2, 10), which may still be visible even in somewhat eroded shells. There is some degree of variation in the width of this spiral band; in most of the shells, it is wider and with a smooth periphery (Fig. 2), exactly as in the drawing by Verrill (1882) and as in E. unifasciata ( Aartsen 1994) . However in a few shells, the color band is much narrower, almost a thin line (Fig. 10). The development of the columellar fold and the outline of the whorls also vary; in most shells, the columellar fold is quite visible (Figs, 2, 4, 7), but some of them have a more incipient fold; and the outline of the shell whorls varies from rectilinear (Figs. 3, 7) or slightly convex to somewhat sinuous (Fig. 2, 10).

Mello (1993) illustrated a shell from off northeast Brazil termed Ptycheulimella sp. The shell illustrated is E. smithii , with a tall shell and the characteristic spiral color band.