Biogeographical homogeneity in the eastern Mediterranean Sea - III. New records and a state of the art of Polyplacophora, Scaphopoda and Cephalopoda from Lebanon

The Mediterranean molluscan fauna is widely studied, and is largely considered as the best known in the world. However, mostly due to a severe bias in the geographical samplings, a difference is observed between the knowledge on the central and the western areas and that available for the Levantine Sea. Based on literature reports (spanning over a period of more than 150 years) and extensive fieldwork (altogether covering more than 20 years), a first updated check-list of polyplacophorans, scaphopods and cephalopods from Lebanon (eastern Mediterranean Sea) is provided here. Leptochiton bedullii Dell'Angelo & Palazzi, 1986, Parachiton africanus (Nierstrasz, 1906), Chiton phaseolinus Monterosato, 1879, Lepidochitona caprearum (Scacchi, 1836), Lepidochitona monterosatoi Kaas & Van Belle, 1981 and specimens ascribed to the Sepioteuthis lessoniana Ferussac in Lesson, 1831 complex are new records for Lebanon. The occurrence of Alloteuthis subulata (Lamarck, 1798) and Acanthochitona discrepans (Brown, 1827) is excluded as the species records are based on a possible misidentification and a misreading, respectively. For each treated species we present a detailed Lebanese record list, a brief morphological description and its known geographic distribution. Finally, updated Mediterranean check-lists of the three classes are provided.