Epitonium (Parviscala) corniculum Lee & Huang

Huang, Chih-Wei & Lee, Yen-Chen, 2016, Checklist of the family Epitoniidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) in Taiwan with description of a new species and some new records, Biodiversity Data Journal 4, pp. 5653-5653 : 5653

Epitonium (Parviscala) corniculum Lee & Huang sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: NMNS-7035-001 ; recordedBy: Chih-Wei Huang, Yen-Chen Lee; individualID: holotype; individualCount: 1; lifeStage: adult; disposition: dry; Taxon: scientificName: Epitonium (Parviscala) corniculum; acceptedNameUsage: Epitonium (Parviscala) corniculum Lee & Huang; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Mollusca; class: Gastropoda; order: Caenogastropoda; family: Epitoniidae; genus: Epitonium; subgenus: Parviscala; specificEpithet: corniculum; scientificNameAuthorship: Lee & Huang; nomenclaturalCode: ICZN; taxonRemarks: sp. nov.; Location: continent: Asia; waterBody: Peng-chia-yu water, Western Pacific; islandGroup: Taiwan; island: Peng-chia-yu Island; country: Taiwan; locality: Peng-chia-yu water ; minimumDepthInMeters: 500m; maximumDepthInMeters: 600m; Identification: identifiedBy: Yen-Chen Lee; dateIdentified: 2014; identificationRemarks: sp. nov.; Event: samplingProtocol: Dredging; Record Level: language: en; institutionID: NMNS; collectionID: NMNS-7035-001; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: NMNS-7035-002 ; recordedBy: Chih-Wei Huang, Yen-Chen Lee; individualID: paratype 1; individualCount: 1; lifeStage: adult; disposition: dry; Taxon: scientificName: Epitonium (Parviscala) corniculum; acceptedNameUsage: Epitonium (Parviscala) corniculum Lee & Huang; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Mollusca; class: Gastropoda; order: Caenogastropoda; family: Epitoniidae; genus: Epitonium; subgenus: Parviscala; specificEpithet: corniculum; scientificNameAuthorship: Lee & Huang; nomenclaturalCode: ICZN; taxonRemarks: sp. nov.; Location: continent: Asia; waterBody: Peng-chia-yu water, Western Pacific; islandGroup: Taiwan; island: Peng-chia-yu Island; country: Taiwan; locality: Peng-chia-yu water ; minimumDepthInMeters: 500m; maximumDepthInMeters: 600m; Identification: identifiedBy: Yen-Chen Lee; dateIdentified: 2014; identificationRemarks: sp. nov.; Event: samplingProtocol: Dredging; Record Level: language: en; institutionID: NMNS; collectionID: NMNS-7035-002; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: NMNS-7035-003 ; recordedBy: Chih-Wei Huang, Yen-Chen Lee; individualID: paratype 2; individualCount: 1; lifeStage: adult; disposition: dry; Taxon: scientificName: Epitonium (Parviscala) corniculum; acceptedNameUsage: Epitonium (Parviscala) corniculum Lee & Huang; kingdom: Animalia; phylum: Mollusca; class: Gastropoda; order: Caenogastropoda; family: Epitoniidae; genus: Epitonium; subgenus: Parviscala; specificEpithet: corniculum; scientificNameAuthorship: Lee & Huang; nomenclaturalCode: ICZN; taxonRemarks: sp. nov.; Location: continent: Asia; waterBody: Peng-chia-yu water, Western Pacific; islandGroup: Taiwan; island: Peng-chia-yu Island; country: Taiwan; locality: Peng-chia-yu water ; minimumDepthInMeters: 500m; maximumDepthInMeters: 600m; Identification: identifiedBy: Yen-Chen Lee; dateIdentified: 2014; identificationRemarks: sp. nov.; Event: samplingProtocol: Dredging; Record Level: language: en; institutionID: NMNS; collectionID: NMNS-7035-003; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

Shell acuminate. Fragilely thin, light weight, white color, shell width/height ratio approximate 0.38 (Fig. 4a, b, c). Spire elevated, convex, with 11-14 teleoconch whorls, protoconch missing in all type specimens. Body whorl shorter than 1/3 shell height. Surface with thin, erect axial costae, 22-34 in number on the body whorls, slightly serrated and raised to a hook halfway from the suture to the periphery. Each costae more or less connected with lower whorl’s costae on suture. With visible spiral strips between costae, the spiral strips are unclear or invisible near the suture. Whorls connected. The umbilicus is closed. Aperture ovate in shape, approximately 1/5 of shell height. Tortuously patulous at the terminal end of the columellar. The round operculum is brownish black. Shell height 20-25mm.

Measurement and type depository

Holotype: SL: 25.7mm, SW: 8.3mm; APL: 4.9mm, APW: 4.9mm; NMNS-7035-001, National Museum of Natural Science, Taiwan. (Fig. 4a)

Paratype 1: SL: 25.2mm, SW: 8.4mm; APL: 3.9mm, APW: 4.4mm; NMNS-7035-002, National Museum of Natural Science, Taiwan. (Fig. 4b)

Paratype 2 (earlier whorls lost): SL: 15.6mm, SW: 5.9mm; APL: 2.8mm, APW: 3.3mm; NMNS-7035-003, National Museum of Natural Science, Taiwan. (Fig. 4c)

Etymology

Latin means “hornlike”.

Distribution

Type locality: Dredged from Peng-chia-yu water at the depth of 500-600m.

Taxon discussion

This species is similar to the North Atlantic Ocean abyssal species E. babylonium (Fig. 4e, f) in morphology, but it can be distinguished by its gradually wider and longer shell with similar whorls of the present species. Epitonium (Parviscala) duocamurum (Fig. 4d) is another analogue, it differs in having more costae at the same whorl. Eptonium sakuraii Habe, 1962 is another analogue. The new species is dull, but E. sakuraii has a lustrous surface and, unlike the new species, has shoulder hooks away from the suture. The new species has shoulder hooks just under the suture, and it has fewer axial costae (22-34 in persent new species; 30-37 in E. sakuraii ). The ratio of shell wide and shell height of E. sakuraii (NSMT-Mo 70316a possible paratype) is 0.3938, in holotype of Viciniscala ootanii Azuma, 1962 (synonym of E. sakuraii ) it is 0.4060. The ratio of shell wide and shell height in the new species’ holotype, paratype 1, paratype 2 are 0.3185, 0.3250, 0.3252, respectively. In other words, the new species is more slender than E. sakuraii .

Records

Epitonium abyssicola (non Schepman 1909) Lee 2001a: fig. 17.