Magnella Dittmer, 1960

Figueira, Raquel Medeiros Andrade & Absalão, Ricardo Silva, 2012, Deep-water Raphitomidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Conoidea) from the Campos Basin, southeast Brazil, Zootaxa 3527, pp. 1-27 : 13

Genus Magnella Dittmer, 1960

Type species: Magnella andersoni Dittmer, 1960 , by original designation.

Remarks: This genus resembles Gymnobela in the plump profile, short spire and short anterior siphonal canal. However, according to the original descriptions and type species ( Dittmer, 1960; Verrill, 1884), Magnella is characterized by the presence of a strong subsutural spiral cord, whereas in Gymnobela a subsutural cord is not present or it is very faint. Besides, Magnella does not have the strong shoulder that characterizes Gymnobela , and it has a shallower anal sinus. Maxwell (1988) apud Kilburn (1991) proposed that Magnella should be considered a synonym of Mioawateria Vella, 1954 . Like Maxwell, Sysoev (1997) also assumed that the protoconch in the later genus is diagonally cancelled. That assumption can not be confirmed, as the type material of Mioawateria personata ( Powell, 1942: 130, pl. 11, fig. 3), the type species of the genus, has a broken protoconch; and in the same paper as the original description of Mioawateria ( Vella, 1954: 552) the author placed other species with smooth, blunt protoconchs in this genus. Therefore, there are no objective elements to sustain the synonymy between Magnella and Mioawateria . Besides, M. personata has a much stronger shoulder and a much more delicate subsutural cord, being closer to Gymnobela in general shape.