Pazinotus, Vokes, 1970

Houart, Roland & Héros, Virginie, 2008, Muricidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Fiji and Tonga, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 196, pp. 437-480 : 457

Genus PAZINOTUS Vokes, 1970

Pazinotus has been considered a subgenus of Poirieria (Muricinae) by Vokes (1970; 1971, 1992). However, Houart (1991a; 1994a) has shown that at least two species considered as Pazinotus by recent authors have a muricopsine radula with a short central projecting cusp, two long lateral denticles situated between the central and lateral cusps, and short marginal cusps. The radula of Poirieria is muricine with a less projecting, long central cusp and short lateral denticles between the central and lateral cusps ( Marshall & Houart 1995). Pazinotus falcatiformis has a muricopsine radula (Figs 9A, B).

The radular morphology was not previously known for Pazinotus stimpsonii ( Dall, 1889) , the type species of Pazinotus . However, recent study of a radula extracted from a specimen of P. stimpsonii dredged off the Virgin Islands SMNH-71734 (Fig. 9D) determined that it had a short, typically muricopsine, projecting central tooth, indicating that Pazinotus is more akin to muricopsine species. Therefore, Pazinotus Vokes, 1970 is transfered here from Muricinae to Muricopsinae .