Eulimella species

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 : 36

Other Eulimella species from the Western Atlantic

Rosenberg (2009) listed nine species in the genus Eulimella occurring in the western Atlantic. From Brazil, previous to the present work, besides Eulimella rudis , only E. bahiensis Castellanos, 1982 was recorded ( Absalão et al. 1996). However, the original description and illustration of E. bahiensis , from Argentina, reveals a shell with prominent axial ribs in a pattern typical of Turbonilla , and well-marked spiral striae over the rib interspaces. Eulimella argentina Doello Jurado, 1938 , described from Argentina, also has axial ribs. Both E. bahiensis and E. argentina should be reallocated to Turbonilla . In addition, Turbonilla xenophyes Melvill & Standen, 1912 from the Antarctic, considered a species of Eulimella by Rosenberg (2009) is not a member of Pyramidellidae , since its original illustration shows a non-heterostrophic protoconch; it is more likely a member of Aclididae .

Therefore, prior to the present study, we recognized six Eulimella species from the western Atlantic. The description of the three new species proposed herein, as well as the recognition of Eulimella cf. calva , increases the number of Eulimella species from the western Atlantic to ten, in contrast to thirty species of Eulimella that are known from the eastern Atlantic, comprising 20 from Europe and 14 occurring in West Africa ( Ardovini & Cossignani 2004).

Most of the previously described western Atlantic species are from the northwestern Atlantic, mainly from the east coast of the USA: Eulimella smithii , Eulimella lissa A. E. Verrill, 1884 ; Eulimella polita (A. E. Verrill, 1872) ; Eulimella simplex (d'Orbigny, 1841) ; and Eulimella compactilis (Jeffreys, 1867) . The exceptions are E. argentina and E. bahiensis (as discussed above, actually members of Turbonilla ) and E. xenophyes (which is not a Pyramidellidae ), as well as E. rudis from Brazil. The present study considerably enlarges the range of Eulimella in the South Atlantic, as far as Uruguay.