Coralliophila monodonta ( Blainville, 1832 )

Oliverio, Marco, 2009, Diversity of Coralliophilinae (Mollusca, Neogastropoda, Muricidae) at Austral Islands (South Pacific), Zoosystema 31 (4), pp. 759-789 : 768

Coralliophila monodonta ( Blainville, 1832)

( Fig. 4C, D )

Purpura monodonta Blainville, 1832: 241 .

Purpura monodonta Quoy & Gaimard, 1833: 561 , pl. 37, figs 9-11.

Purpura madreporarum G. B. Sowerby I, 1834 : pl. 237, fig. 12.

Quoyula madreporarium [sic] – Oliver 1915: 537.

Coralliophila madreporara [sic] – Kosuge & Suzuki 1985: 35, pl. 46, fig. 7. — Bosch et al. 1995: 125, fig. 501.

Galeropsis madreporarus [sic] – Lozouet & Le Renard 1998: 181, figs 7/4, 5.

Coralliophila madreporaria [sic] – Tsuchiya 2000: 419, pl. 208, fig. 291.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Purpura monodonta : lectotype MNHN 0173 ( Oliverio 2008b) and 1 paralectotype MNHN 20579.

Purpura madreporarum : 3 possible syntypes ( BMNH 1985104).

TYPE LOCALITY. — Purpura monodonta: Tonga-Tabou. Purpura madreporarum : unknown.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — The type material and:

Banc Arago, BENTHAUS, stn DW 1985, 23°26.3’S, 150°44.2’W, 100-107 m, 1 dd. — Banc Arago, stn DW 1984, 23°26.4’S, 150°43.9’W, 40 m, 6 lv ( Fig. 4C, D ). — Banc Président Thiers, stn DW 1926, 24°38.2’S, 146°00.8’W, 50-90 m, 1sh, 1 lv. — Banc Président Thiers, stn DW 1937, 24°39.8’S, 146°56.4’W, 469-500 m, 1 dd. — Banc Président Thiers, stn DW 1933, 24°40.7’S, 146°01.3’W, 500-850 m, 1 dd. — Recif Neilson, stn DW 1917, 27°03.3’S, 146°03.8’W, 50-60 m, 1 lv. — West of Tauna Is., ATELIER RAPA 2002, stn 16, 27°36.3’S, 144°18.4’W, 5 m, 1 dd.

DISTRIBUTION. — The Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, from East Africa to Indonesia, including Eastern Arabia “in corals” ( Bosch et al. 1995). Throughout the tropical Pacific Ocean ( Cernohorsky 1972), including Hawaii ( Kay 1979) and Easter Island ( Rehder 1980), extending in the eastern Pacific to the Galapagos Islands ( Finet 1994) and the American west coast ( Keen 1971). From the New Caledonia area alive in 4-40 m ( Oliverio 2008b). Austral Islands, empty shells in 5-500 m, living in 40- 50 m.

REMARKS

This is the type species of the genus Quoyula Iredale, 1912 . It is here conservatively included in Coralliophila . The question of the valid name for this species is dealt with by Oliverio (2008b), who established date and authorship for the binomen Purpura monodonta . Larval shell characters somewhat variable, protoconch of 3.8-4.0 conical whorls, 650-690 µm high and 700-720 µm wide at the base ( Oliverio 2008b). It lives on Pocillopora -like corals. Feeding activity was described by Guzmán (1988). Relationships with Purpura porphyroleuca Crosse, 1870 (described from “Polynésie” ( Crosse 1870): syntype in MNHN 0946, figured by Kosuge & Suzuki 1985: pl. 41 figs 3, 7) need to be ascertained. However, the present material is more concordant with the type material of Purpura monodonta .

Figures

FIG. 4. — A, B, Coralliophila erosa (Röding, 1798), Banc Président Thiers, BENTHAUS, stn DW 1926, 24°38.2’S, 146°00.8’W, 50- 90 m; C, D, C. monodonta (Blainville, 1832), Banc Arago, BENTHAUS, stn DW 1984, 23°26.4’S, 150°43.9’W, 40 m; E-I, C. fimbriata (A. Adams, 1854); E, F, North of Raivavae Is., BENTHAUS, stn DW 1939, 23°49.7’S, 147°41.6’W, 100 m, (detached from the original coral); G-I, Rimatara Is., BENTHAUS stn DW 2013, 22°38.6’S, 152°49.7’W, 80-93 m, 17 dd (arrows point to the mark on the coral skeleton). Scale bars: A-F, H, 10 mm; G, 30 mm; I, 5 mm.