The known range of Splendrillia candidula (Hedley, 1922) is extended from Queensland westward to off Dampier, Western Australia. Splendrillia persica (Smith, 1888) is recorded for the first time from Australian waters, and a new species of Splendrillia is described from off the north coast of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
A new species of the muricid subgenus Dermomurex (Viator) is described from the Recent fauna at Broome, W.A. It differs from the three known species of the subgenus in the twisted siphonal canal and in details of the intritacalx.
Four species of the muricine subgenus Pterochelus are distributed around the perimeter of the Australian continent in a simple geographic pattern: P. acanthopterus in the north; P. duffusi in the east; P. triformis in the south; and p. westralis in the west. To this number may be added two geographically intermediate species: Pterynotus (Pterochelus) akation, n. sp., in the northwest; and P. (P.) undosus, n. sp., in the southwest The species P. saibaiensis was named from the northeast, but it is here considered to be a synonym of P. acanthopterus, which thus ranges from the Torres Strait to Rottnest Island, W.A.
Abstract This paper revises the Red Sea chiton fauna, of which 23 species are thusfar recorded. One new species is described (Leptochiton (Parachiton) hylkiae n. sp.) and two species are new for the Red Sea (Leptochiton nierstraszi Leloup and Leptochiton (Parachiton) sp.). Of these 23 species, five [Lepidozona luzonica (Sowerby), Callistochiton adenensis (E.A. Smith), Schizochiton jousseaumei Dupuis, Chiton peregrinus Thiele and Chiton (Rhyssoplax) heterodon (Pilsbry)], probably only occur in the southernmost partoftheRedSea. Records of chitons from the central and southern Red Sea are very scarce and most of the data available are based on old literature records and museum specimens. As far as chitons are concerned, the Red Sea does not constitute a separate zoogeographical entity, but is part of the tropical western Indian Ocean zoogeographical province. Only 2 species (L. (P .) hylkiae n. sp. Lucilina perligera Thiele) are endemic to the Red Sea. Lessepsian migration (from Red Sea to Mediterranean) of chitons is known only for Chiton (Tegulaplax) hululensis (E.A. Smith), recorded from the Mediterranean coast of Israel. There are no reliable records of antilessepsian migration. Lectotypes are designated for Lepidopleurus concharum De Rochebrune, Chiton (Clathropleura) ruepelli Thiele, Chiton lyellii Sowerby, Chiton laqueatus Sowerby and Acanthochiton curvisetosus Leloup.
The viviparid snail Notopala is distributed throughout the rivers and other waterbodies of the northern tropical regions of Australia, extending south into the Lake Eyre and Murray-Darling Basins. Despitearecentexarnination of the WesternAustralian viviparids the taxonomy of a number of species, especially those from the Lake Eyre and Murray-Darling Basins, is unclear. Principal Components Analysis was used on seven shell measurements to determine which morphometric characters best delineate the species. Umbilicus width and aperture lip length explained most of the variation. The results suggest that there are four species of Notopala in Australia: N. waterhousii andN. essingtonensis in the north and northwest, N. sublineaca in the Lake Eyre and Murray-Darling Basins and N. hanleyi in the Murray-Darling Basin. With lheapparentextinction of both species ofNotopala in the natural environment of the Murray-Darling Basin, the population of N. hanleyi surviving in a Murray irrigation pipeline and the population of N. sublineata in the Lake Eyre Basin have significant conservation value.
The detailed study of general features and rib structure on numerous specimens of the subfamily Trachycardiinae from the Indo-West Pacific, generally identified as Acrosterigma elongatum, A. enode, A. serricostatum, A. okinawaense and A. wilsoni, and comparison between them, shows that they are conspecific and belong to a polytypic species: Acrosterigma elongatum (Bruguière, 1789). Although there are numerous intermediate forms, six geographically distinct subspecies can be defined.
The egg mass of the prosobranch Melo miltonis (Griffith and Pidgeon, 1834) from the southern Australian region is described in some detail and figured. It is one of the largest known prosobranch egg masses, consisting of about 100 spirally arranged capsules, each containing a single embryo, measuring 26 mm at hatching. The reproductive strategy in the Volutidae is summarized.
Four taxa of Australian Eocene Turridae attributed to Tate by Cossmann in the Essais de Paléoconchologie are reviewed. Two of them (Bathy10ma atractoides Cossmann, 1896 and B. gellibrandi Cossmann, 1896) are nomina nuda. Borsonia otwayensis Cossmann, 1896, is an available name. B. otwayensis Tate, 1898; B. polycesta Tale, 1898; and B. protensa Tate, 1898, are junior synonyms of B. otwayensis Cossmann, 1896. Pleurotoma perarata Cossmann, 1896, is also an available name and a senior synonym of Pleurotoma septemlirata G. F. Harris, 1897. Syntypes of Borsonia otwayensis and Pleurotoma perarata Cossmann, 1896, are illustrated for the first time.
Fecundity and length-weight relations were determined for six populations of the greenlip abalone Haliotis laevigata on the coast of Eyre Peninsula. The relation between length and fecundity was non-linear with power coefficients of length ranging from 3.7 to 7.2 ford ifferent sites. The between-site variation in fecundity is attributed to differences in food supply, water movement and habitat, although genetic effects cannot be excluded. Length-weight relations varied little between sites, and power coefficients of length ranged from 2.8 to 3.2.
The morphology of the valves and girdle of the newly described, wood-feeding deep-water chiton Xylochiton xylophagus is examined using light and scanning electron microscopy. The aesthete groups are unusual in character and the subsidiary caps in particular are unique in being erect. The nature of the girdle spiculation is described in detail, and sparse, hair-like and probably sensory structures were observed; the ventral surface of the girdle is devoid of spicules, a feature found only in one other group of chitons, the Abyssochitonidae.
A new species of Tertiary chiton, Notoplax buicki sp. nov., is described from the Dry Creek Sands (Pliocene, Yatalan) from South Australia. The new species most closely resembles the extant N. speciosa, but is distinguished from it by the elongate lateral teeth on the sides of the jugum, and the more triangular pustules which are not differentiated on the low diagonal rib separating the lateral and pleural areas.
Cryptoplax mystica is a common inhabitant of the New South Wales mid-north coast. An elongate chiton with reduced shell valves, it is usually found in narrow crevices and holes in sand-sponge aggregates in the lower intertidal zone. A recent examination of some head, intermediate and tail valves revealed a unique ’sense organ’ imbedded in pigmented tissue immediately below the shells dorsal surface. The structure was found to possess features consistent with a photoreceptive and/or balance function, and to display a degree of complexity hitherto undescribed for the Polyplacophora.
A new family of deep-water chitons, Xylochitonidae fam.n ., is erected to contain a distinctive new species Xylochiton xylophagus gen. et sp.n. from New Zealand waters. The new family is placed in the suborder Lepidopleurina, as it has unslit insertion plates. It can be distinguished from all other families in the suborder by the lack of calcareous ornamentation on the ventral girdle, the presence of unslit insertion plates on at least the anterior valve, and by the evenly distributed aesthete groups with their erect subsidiary caps. Similarities between Xylochitonidae fam.n. and Abyssochitonidae are discussed.
Ten new species of veneroid bivalves from Australia are described including four species of the Veneridae (Pitar (Pitarina) marrowae, P.(P.) potteri, Dosinia lochi, Dosinia queenslandica), three species of Cardiidae (Acrosterigma kerslakae. A. punctolineata, Fulvia voskuili), a crassatellid (Talabrica donharrisi), a tellinid (Tellina ( Abranda) jeanae) and a mactrid (Spisula (Notospisula) colganae). With the exception of Dosinia lochi which is known only from Boucaut Bay, Arnhem Land (type locality), all of the new species described occur in Queensland waters. Acrosterigma kerslakae, however, ranges south to Co!Jaroy Beach, Sydney, New South Wales.
The growth rate of Haliotis laevigata Donovan was examined at 6 sites on Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, by mark-recapture experiments and by analysis of length-frequency distributions. Juvenile growth rates were generally linear, and in the range 20 – 40 mm y-1, whereas growth of older individuals was satisfactorily described by the von Bertalanffy growth curve. The Brody growth coefficient, K, ranged from 0.19 to 0.55 y-1, and L∞ from 119.5 mm to 186.3 mm according to site. Growth rates tend to decline with decreasing latitude.
Light and scanning electron microscopy are used to investigate the internal structure of the shell valves of Ischnochiton (Ischnoradsia) australis, Acanthopleura gaimardi and Cryptoplax mystica. The shell in all species is comprised of four layers (periostracum, tegmentum, articulamentum, and hypostracum), and is perforated in specific areas by one of three classes of megalaesthete (jugal, slit-ray, and multiple branch). All classes consists of a number of micraesthete channels emanating from the distal region of a single aesthete channel, but differ according to the extent of canal branching. Both aesthete and micraesthete structures terminate at the shell surface in conical caps, while ventrally, a narrow canal extends towards the mantle interface. The gross structural arrangement is probably typical of all chiton species. A possible differentiation of aesthete function between the three types of megalaesthete is discounted in respect of ultrastructural similarities.
Skeletal ossicles of brittle stars were found in gut contents of Craspedochiton sp. and C. pyramidalis, both of which have an anteriorly expanded girdle. The results of morphological comparisons of these species with Placiphorella, which is known to be a carnivore with active trapping behaviour, suggest that these two Craspedochiton species have a similar active carnivorous habit which evolved independently.
No Oligocene chiton species have been known from Italy, but a few valves of a Stenoplax species have been found in the Case Soghe beds, near Vicenza, South Veneto, Northern Italy. This species is consistently different from the other fossil Stenoplax species known and therefore described as new. The holotype is deposited in the collections of the Malacological Laboratory of Bologna University.
Examination of the type material of Cardium angulatum Lamarck 1819, demonstrates that the name is not a synonym of C. rugosum as it has often been accepted. Instead it proves that C. angulatum is the valid name for the Indo Pacific species known as C. alternatum Sowerby, 1840. Because Sowerby’s name is not that of a common and/ or economically important species, it is proposed to adopt Lamarck’s name.
