Odostomia (s.l.) sp. 2

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

Odostomia (s.l.) sp. 2 Figure 24

New records.

Israel • 1 spcm; Soreq desalination plant; 31.9420°N, 34.6896°E; depth 17.4 m; 19 May 2015; soft substrate; grab; Soreq project (sample S027).

Additional material examined.

Israel • 1 sh; Neve Yam, Atlit; 32.6785°N, 34.9289°E; 6 Feb. 2006; beached; size H 1.3 mm, W 0.7 mm (illustrated shell; previously figured by Bogi and Galil (2006)).

Remarks.

The first record of this species is based on five well-preserved shells found in a shell grit sample taken in 1995 on the beach of Yumurtalik, Adana, Turkey ( Giunchi et al. 2001). In 2006, another beached shell was found at Neve Yam, northern Israel ( Bogi and Galil 2006, re-illustrated in Figure 24 herein) and, according to these authors, the species was also found in Israel by J.J. van Aartsen. A specimen of Odostomia sp. 2, from the original lot from Yumurtalik, was recently figured by Giannuzzi-Savelli et al. (2014). Here, we report the first finding of a living individual of Odostomia sp. 2 which was recovered from a sediment sample taken at the Soreq desalination plant, southern Israel.

Since the first finding in Turkey 25 years ago, the identity of this most likely non-indigenous species has remained unresolved. It differs from all known Mediterranean Odostomiinae at first glance by the presence of two brown spiral bands. We are unaware of any Indo-Pacific pyramidellid resembling this taxon, and it may well represent an undescribed species. To aid the further study of this taxon and raise awareness of its presence and apparent spread in the Mediterranean, we here re-illustrate the well-preserved shell from Neve Yam using light and scanning electron microscopy.

Figures

Figure 24. Odostomia (s. l.) sp. 2, Neve Yam, Atlit, Israel: front (A, B), side (C, D) and back (E, F) views, apex (G) and apical view of the protoconch (H). Scale bars: 0.5 mm (A-F); 0.2 mm (G, H).