Sticteulima sp.

Albano, Paolo G., Steger, Jan, Bakker, Piet A. J., Bogi, Cesare, Bosnjak, Marija, Guy-Haim, Tamar, Huseyinoglu, Mehmet Fatih, LaFollette, Patrick I., Lubinevsky, Hadas, Mulas, Martina, Stockinger, Martina, Azzarone, Michele & Sabelli, Bruno, 2021, Numerous new records of tropical non-indigenous species in the Eastern Mediterranean highlight the challenges of their recognition and identification, ZooKeys 1010, pp. 1-95 : 1

Sticteulima sp. Figure 19

New records.

Israel • 1 sh; north of Atlit; 32.7820°N, 34.9466°E; depth 10 m; 21 Sep. 2016; sand; grab; HELM project (sample NG10_1F); size: H 1.4 mm, W 0.6 mm (illustrated shell, Figure 19A-F ) • 1 spcm; Ashqelon; 31.6891°N, 34.5257°E; depth 28 m; 31 Oct. 2018; offshore rocky reef; suction sampler; HELM project (sample S59_1F).

Remarks.

We place this species in Sticteulima due to its small size, slender profile with high and rather flat whorls ( Warén 1984). In contrast to the native S. jeffreysiana (Brusina, 1869) and the Lessepsian S. lentiginosa (A. Adams, 1861), it is colorless, also in live-collected specimens, and stouter. Further, this species does not match any of the known small-sized Mediterranean eulimids. It can be readily distinguished from Vitreolina curva (Monterosato, 1874) and Melanella levantina (Oliverio, Buzzurro & Villa, 1994) by the lack of the strongly arched apical whorls. This feature differentiates it at once also form other Red Sea small-sized eulimids ( Blatterer 2019). Melanella petitiana (Brusina, 1869) is larger, has more numerous whorls (our Sticteulima has a fully thickened lip suggesting that it is an adult) and has a less prominent lip profile. Nanobalcis nana (Monterosato, 1878) (type illustrated by Appolloni et al. (2018)) has shorter whorls, especially the last one, which is also much broader than in this species. It can also be easily distinguished from Hemiliostraca athenamariae (Mifsud & Ovalis, 2019) by the lack of any color pattern, and the more inflated lip profile with a deeper posterior sinus. Sticteulima sp. may be a new non-indigenous species in the Mediterranean Sea.

Figures

Figure 19. Sticteulima sp. A-F north of Atlit, Israel, HELM project (sample NG 10 _ 1 F): front (A, B), side (C, D) and back (E) views, protoconch (F) G-I Ashqelon, Israel, HELM project (sample S 59 _ 1 F): front (G), side (H) and back (I) views. Scale bars: 0.3 mm (A-E, G-I); 0.1 mm (F).