Bathyal Mollusca from the cold-water coral biotope of Santa Maria di Leuca (Apulian margin, southern Italy) Author Negri, Mauro Pietro Author Corselli, Cesare text Zootaxa 2016 4186 1 1 97 journal article 37873 10.11646/zootaxa.4186.1.1 5b97cddd-5284-4a6b-8693-898864fb4711 1175-5326 165288 029B675F-776C-4CD6-9992-FA05AEADFA7B Leptaxinus subovatus ( Jeffreys, 1881 ) Fig. 7 j–l Axinus subovatus Jeffreys, 1881 (p. 704, pl. 61, fig. 8). Axinulus subovatus ( Jeffreys, 1881 ) — Nordsieck 1969 (p. 80, pl. 13, fig. 48.13). Leptaxinus ( L. ) subovatus (Jeffreys) — Di Geronimo 1974 (p. 156, pl. 3, fig. 2). Thyasira ( Parathyasira ) subovata subovata ( Jeffreys, 1881 ) — Payne & Allen 1991 (p. 513, figs. 48–50, 53 a–b). Thyasira ( Parathyasira ) subovata minuta Payne & Allen 1991 (p. 515, figs. 51–52, 53 c–d). Thyasira ( Parathyasira ) subovata ( Jeffreys, 1881 ) — Giribet & Peñas 1997 (fig. 100). Thyasira subovata Jeffreys, 1881 — Oliver et al. 2002 (p. 60, pl. 25, figs. A–B). Leptaxinus subovatus ( Jeffreys, 1881 ) — Repetto et al. 2005 (p. 310, bottom right fig.). Diagnostic characters . Oval, oblique shell; long anterior side; roundly angular posterior side; outer surface with uneven and rather coarse growth markings; right valve hinge with 1 cardinal tubercle and 2 lamellar lateral teeth; left valve hinge with 1 cardinal tubercle. Prodissoconch: shell type ST-2D; length about 120 µm; roundish Dshaped outline; low convex profile; surface smooth; P-2 absent; transition to the nepioconch poorly marked. Remarks . The specimens at hand appear to be more similar to the subspecies minuta Payne & Allen, 1991 , than to the nominal species of Jeffreys, in having an oval (not subtriangular) shell with rounded (not wedgeshaped) posterior angulation. We follow Oliver & Levin (2006) in preferring the genus Leptaxinus Verrill & Bush, 1898 for the present taxon, rather than Thyasira Lamarck, 1818 , for the presence of both cardinal tubercles and lateral teeth. Occurrence . Box-corer samples BC10 (2 specimens), BC66 (2), BC67 (3), BC72 (5); cores BC21 (1), BC72 (5). Maximum length: 2.5 mm . Distribution and habitat . Leptaxinus subovatus is distributed troughout the Atlantic, from Iceland and Faroes to Cape Verde , Angola and Argentina , and in the Mediterranean; it is found in the 200–4000 m bathymetric interval, reaching shallower depths at arctic latitudes ( Payne & Allen 1991 ; Poppe & Goto 1993 ; Di Geronimo et al. 2001 ; Sneli 2005 ). Fossil record. Pliocene of northern Italy ( Tabanelli 2008 ).