Serrata exquisita, Boyer, 2008

Boyer, Franck, 2008, The genus Serrata Jousseaume, 1875 (Caenogastropoda: Marginellidae) in New Caledonia, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 196, pp. 389-436 : 409

Serrata exquisita n. sp.

Figs 27, 28

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype (dd) MNHN 20608 and 4 paratypes (dd) MNHN 20609 .

TYPE LOCALITY. — Northern New Caledonia, 18°49’S, 163°16’E, 613-647 m [BATHUS 4: stn DW 918] .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Northern New Caledonia. BATHUS 4: stn DW 918, 18°49’S, 163°16’E, 613-647 m, 4 dd (holotype,

Fig. 27 and paratypes, Fig. 28), 1 fragment (paratype).

DISTRIBUTION. — Northern tip of New Caledonia, at the latitude of Grand Passage, shells in 613-647 m.

DESCRIPTION. — Shell slender biconical, solid, opaque. Protoconch paucispiral, bulging, asymmetrical. Spire tall, narrow, whorls weakly convex. Aperture long, narrow, weakly oblique. Base tapering. Outer lip moderately thickened, subvertical, shoulder sloping, outer margin narrow, bevelled, inner edge smooth, faintly reflected over central area. Four thin columellar plaits, more oblique from uppermost to lowest one.

Colour whitish (faded).

Dimensions: 4.80 x 2.00 mm.

Radula unknown.

REMARKS. — From the small lot of shells at hand, Serrata exquisita seems somewhat variable. The illustrated paratype (Fig. 28) has a more narrowly pointed spire than the holotype, and a more shouldered and more reflected labrum, with a less smooth inner edge. Although S. exquisita is similar to Dentimargo in shell outline and to Volvarina in its smooth labrum, the faintly excavated lower labrum suggests that it belongs in Serrata . Serrata exquisita shows some similarities to S. coriolis from the central Loyalty Ridge, but differs from it in its more biconical outline, its more attenuated base, its smooth inner labrum and its more oblique columellar plaits.

ETYMOLOGY. — Latin exquisitus (adj., exquisite), referring to the delicate morphology of the shell.