Conradia eutornisca (Melvill, 1918)

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

Conradia eutornisca (Melvill, 1918)

New records.

Israel • 1 sh; Ashqelon; 31.7101°N, 34.5406°E; depth 31 m; 18 Sep. 2016; muddy-sand; grab; HELM project (sample SG30_5F) • 3 spcms; Ashqelon; 31.6868°N, 34.5516°E; depth 11 m; 31 Oct. 2018; offshore rocky reef; suction sampler; HELM project (samples S58_1M, S58_2F) • 3 spcms; Ashqelon; 31.6891°N, 34.5257°E; depth 25 m; 2 May 2018; offshore rocky reef; suction sampler; HELM project (sample S16_1M) • 1 spcm; same collecting data as for preceding; depth 28 m; 31 Oct. 2018; HELM project (sample S59_3F) • 1 spcm, 1 sh; west of Rosh HaNikra Islands; 33.0704°N, 35.0926°E; depth 12 m; 1 May 2018; rocky substrate; suction sampler; HELM project (samples S14_1F, S14_3F) • 3 spcms; same collecting data as for preceding; 29 Oct. 2018; HELM project (samples S52_1M, S52_3F, S52_3M) • 12 spcms, 4 shs; west of Rosh HaNikra Islands; 33.0725°N, 35.0923°E; depth 20 m; 1 May 2018; rocky substrate; suction sampler; HELM project (samples S13_1F, S13_1M, S13_2F, S13_3F, S13_3M) • 14 spcms; same collecting data as for preceding; depth 19 m; 29 Oct. 2018; HELM project (samples S53_1F, S53_1M, S53_2F, S53_2M, S53_3F, S53_3M); size: H 2 mm, W 1.7 mm.

Remarks.

The species has already been reported from Israel and Turkey ( Bogi and Galil 1999; Buzzurro and Cecalupo 2006), but only from empty shells. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first record of living individuals from the Mediterranean Sea. Based on our observations, it occurs rather frequently on shallow subtidal rocky substrates. The samples from Turkey led to the description of Parviturbo dibellai Buzzurro & Cecalupo, 2006, at that time supposed to be a native species, but this name was later recognized to be a synonym of the Indo-Pacific Fossarus eutorniscus ( Rubio et al. 2015), attributed to Conradia by Janssen et al. (2011). Janssen et al. (2011) highlighted, however, that the Red Sea specimens have seven spiral cords instead of the five cited in the original description based on material from Karachi (Pakistan). Specimens with five spiral cords occur also in the Persian (Arabian) Gulf and rarely in the Red Sea (H. Dekker, pers. comm., November 2020). Further research is required to ascertain if these two morphologies belong to two different taxa.