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Early in August, 2010, I came to the conclusion that
Phosinella pulchra (C.B. Adams, 1850: 114), as interpreted by Redfern (2001:
34; plate 17, fig. 141), was a distinct biotaxon. A close look at the
uncharacteristically well-preserved holotype, including its protoconch (Clench
and Turner, 1950: plate 33, fig. 8) confirms Redfern's identification and
places its synonymy with P. cancellata (Philippi, 1847), as asserted by
Desjardin (1949: 204) and Ponder (1985: 83) in serious doubt. Since the C.B.
Adams taxon is the type of Phosinella Mřrch, 1876; see
http://bhl.ala.org.au/item/53851#page/73/mode/1up
(subsequent designation by Nevill, 1885: 73, 83),** this is no small taxonomic
matter.
Delving further, I found that the figures of "Rissoina
(Phosinella) cancellata Philippi" in Ponder (1985: plate 135, figs. A
and B) were not consistent with Redfern's clearly-expressed concept of that
taxon but fit that of his P. sagraiana (d'Orbigny, 1842); see Redfern (op.
cit. 34; plate 17, figs. 140, 142, respectively) and above.
Working independently Rolán and Fernández-Garcés (2010)
agreed with this assessment, but they took the research a bit further and
located the holotype of R. cancellata at the Zoologische Museum, Berlin.
This specimen is actually not at all the species Redfern described and figured;
it is clearly synonymous with R. sagraiana. They considered Redfern's "R.
cancellata" a theretofore unnamed species and dubbed it Rissoina
cancellina (see above).
An additional cloud over Adams' Rissoa pulchra was
nomenclatorial: it is a primary junior homonym of Rissoa pulchra Forbes,
1844, and neither I nor Rolán and Fernández-Garcés (2010) could find a synonym
to recruit into usage. However, those workers argued that the Forbes taxon was
not identifiable and its name had been used much less frequently than R.
pulchra C. B. Adams, 1850, so they proposed protecting its availability.
Stepping back to a generic perspective, we can appreciate
Phosinella in the western Atlantic includes the four taxa of Redfern (2001:
plate 17, figs. 140-143): the three mentioned above and P. redferni
(Espinosa and Ortea, 2002), which is based on the former author's Rissoina
sp. B (Redfern, op. cit. 34, plate 17, figure 143); see above. To those
we may add P. fenestrata (Schwartz, 1860) recently redescribed by
Rolán and Fernández-Garcés
(2009),
Phosinella labrosa
(Schwartz, 1860),
and Rissoina fenestrata of Leal (1991: 75-76; pl. 9, figs. A, B) not of
Schwartz, 1860.
**
Two years later the type species was restricted to Rissoina sagraiana
d’Orbigny, 1842 by Tryon (1887: 320; see
http://tinyurl.com/443zyuh),
but the die had been cast.
Adams, C.B., 1850. Descriptions of
supposed new species of marine shells which inhabit Jamaica. Contributions to Conchology 7: 109-123. April.
<http://www.archive.org/details/contributionstoc00adam>;
<http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/48996#page/124/mode/2up>
Clench, W.J. and R.D. Turner, 1950. The
western Atlantic marine mollusks described by C. B. Adams.
Occasional Papers on Molluscs 1(15): 233-403 incl. pls. 29-49.
June 26. <https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7756469>
Desjardin, M., 1949. Les Rissoina
de l’île de Cuba. Journal de Conchyliologie 89(4): 193-208 +
pls. 9-10.
Leal, J.H., 1991. Marine
prosobranch gastropods from oceanic islands off Brazil. Backhuys,
Oegstgeest, Netherlands. x + pp. 1-418 incl. 22 pls.
Mřrch, O.A.L., 1876. Synopsis
molluscorum marinorum Indiarum occidentalium imprimis insularum
danicarum. Malakozoologische Blätter 23: 45-58, 87-143. <https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15854452>
Nevill, G. 1885. Hand list of
Mollusca in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Part II. Gastropoda.
Protobranchia-Neurobranchia (cont'd.). Government Printer,
Calcutta. x + 306 pp. <https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12300421>
Ponder, W. F., 1985. A review of the
genera of the Rissoidae (Mollusca: Mesogastropoda: Rissoacea).
Records of the Australian Museum supplement 4: 1-221.
<https://media.australian.museum/media/Uploads/Journals/16835/100_complete.pdf>
Rolán, E. and R. Fernández-Garcés,
2009. New information on Cuban Rissoina (Mollusca: Rissoidae)
1. Rissoina fenestrata and R. vanderspoeli. Novapex 10(2):
59-64. 10 June. <https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42271022>
Rolán, E. and R. Fernández-Garcés,
2010. New information on the Caribbean Rissoina (Gastropoda,
Rissoidae) of the group R. sagraiana-cancellata, with the
description of a new species. Iberus 28(1): 79-89.<https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/50447123>
Schwartz von Mohrenstern, G., 1860.
Über de familie der Rissoiden insbesondere die gattung Rissoina.
Denkschriften der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschraftlichen. Classe
der Kaiserlichen Akademie der wissenschraften 169: 70-188, pl.
1-11. Separately published as
<https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32230586> |
