Bulletin Zoologisch Museum
S3
ySjNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
S3
Vol. 3 No. 5 2-V-1973
Abnormal sinistrorsity in the Marginellidae (Gastropoda)
Henry E. Coomans
Abstract which the total number was 64 species. Dance ask-
fed for more records, so that he would be able to
Two species of Marginellidae,Closia angustata publish later on a definitive annotated list of (Sowerby, 1846) and Hyalina effulgens (Reeve,
added to of abnor- 1865), are Dance’s list (1972) sinistral marine Gastropoda.
mal sinistral marine gastropods. Including four The following six records can be added to the list: other records the total number has increased to 70
species. Of these, 29 belong to the Marginellidae, Melo aethiopicus (Linnaeus, 1758) - fam. Volu-
which occur in all tropical and subtropical seas. tidae. A sinistral specimen without a locality was There is no explanation so far for this very high
percentage of sinistral species in a single fami- figured by Piatt 69, fig. 3).
ly. Abnormal sinistrorsity seems to be related to Hydrobia stagnorum (Gmelin, 1790) - fam. Hy- the evolution of the Gastropoda: sinistral speci-
unknown the of mens are in primitive order the drobiidae. One sinistral specimen from the Neth-
the Archaeogastropoda, they are rare in Mesogas- erlands (Sliggers, 1971: 81, fig. 1). Although and less in the tropoda (8 species), rare Neogas-
tropoda (62 species). Within the order of the Neo- this is a fossil specimen from the Eemien, the
gastropoda, the superfamily Volutacea has the most species is also known recent. (43) sinistral species, of which the major part
(29 species) belongs to the family Marginellidae. Murex (Chicoreus) adustus Lamarck, 1822 - fam.
Muricidae, and Oliva vidua Röding, 1798 - fam.
Olividae. Both specimens from the coast of India INTRODUCTION
were figured in “Of Sea and Shore”, vol. 3 (1972)
Dance (1972 a, b) published a list of marine gas- no. 1: 49.
tropod species with abnormal sinistral shells, of Closia (Bullata) angustata (Sowerby, 1846) —
25 26
is fam. Marginellidae. One sinistral specimen pres- Subgenus Austroginella Laseron, 1957
ent in the mollusk collection of the British Mu-
seum (Natural History) as Marginella angustata M. (A.) muscaria Lamarck, 1822 S. Australia
(A.) 1884 Australia Sow., ex coll. Winckworth. Locality unknown, but M. johnstoni Petterd, S.
since label indicates 1846 S. Australia probably from India, the M. (A.) pygmaea Sowerby,
New Zealand “from a Brahmin of Ramesvaram”, which is situated
in the Gulf of Manaar between India and Ceylon. Genus Prunum Herrmannsen, 1852
Hyalina (Volvarina) effulgens (Reeve, 1865) —
fam. One from P. ( s s W. Indies Marginellidae. sinistral specimen . .) prunum (Gtaelin, 1791)
Bermuda (fig. 1 a) is present in the collectionof P. (s.s.) amygdala (Kiener, 1841) W. Africa
the Zoölogisch Museum Amsterdam. P. (s.s.) curtum (Sowerby, 1832) E. Pacific
With these six records the total count of abnor-
mal to sinistral marine gastropods comes 70 spe- Subgenus Leptegouana Woodring, 1928
cies.
P. (L. ) guttatum (Dillwyn, 1817)
syn. longivaricosum (Lamarck, 1822) W. Indies
SINISTRAL MARGINELLIDAE P. (L.) apicinum (Menke, 1828) W. Indies
P. (L. ) pellucidum (Pfeiffer, 1840) W. Indies Abnormal sinistrorsity occurs relatively often in
the family Marginellidae. Tomlin (1917: 246) al- ready mentioned this fact. He knew 19 sinistral Genus Hyalina Schumacher, 1817
marginellids out of 38 sinistral recent marine H. (s.s.) biannullata (Fabricius, 1826) gastropods; of 9 fossil sinistral 3 gastropods, S. syn. bilineata (Krauss, 1848) Africa belonged to the Marginellidae.Dance (1972 a) list- H. (s.s.) capensis (Krauss, 1848) S. Africa
ed 27 sinistral species of Marginellidae, togeth- H. (s.s.) cylindrica (Sowerby, 1846) S. Africa
er with the two records mentioned above, 29 sini-
stral species are presently known in this family. Subgenus Volvarina Hinds, 1844 Dance placed all Marginellidae into one single
In the the si- genus, Marginella. following list H. (V.) mitrella (Risso, 1826) Mediterranean Sea
their nistral Marginellidae are assigned to proper H. (V.) effulgens (Reeve, 1865) W. Indies
and distribution In genus, their is indicated. H. (V.) gracilis (C.B. Adams, 1850) W. Indies
general lines the classification of Wenz (1938- H. (V.) obscura (Reeve, 1865) S. Australia
1944: 1372-1380) is followed. A more extensive H. (V.) suavis (Souverbie, 1859) Pacific Oc.
classification of the Marginellidae was proposed by Coan (1965), who incorporated all 30 taxa de-
Genus Closia Gray, 1857 the La- scribed as new genera in Marginellidae by
Oc. seron (1957). Because we consider many of Lase- C. (s.s.) sarda (Kiener, 1834) Indian ron's names synonymous with other taxa or synonyms
of each other, the classification of Wenz is used. Subgenus Bullata Jousseaume, 1875
C. (B.) angustata (Scwerby, 1846) Indian Oc. Genus Marginella Lamarck, 1799
M. (s.s.) glabella (Linnaeus, 1758) W. Africa
M. (s.s.) aurantia Lamarck, 1822 W. Africa Genus Gibberula Swainson, 1840
M. (s.s.) limbata Lamarck, 1822 W. Africa
M. (s.s.) nebulosa (Roding, 1798) S. Africa G. miliaria (Linnaeus, 1758) Mediterranean Sea
M. (s.s.) ornata Redfield, 1870 S. Africa G. philippii (Monterosato, 1878)
M. ( .) Hinds, 1844 S. Africa Mediterranean Sea s . s piperata 27
Genus Cypraeolina Cerulli-Irelli, 1911 nellidae are found:
C. (s.s.) clandestina (Brocchi, l8l4) Mediterranean Sea 4 species
Mediterranean Sea West Africa H species
often Gibbe- This species is placed into the genus South Africa 6 species
rulina Monterosato, 1884; however, Gibberulina West Indies 6 species
must of Bullata. - be considered a junior synonym Eastern Pacific 1 species
Sinistral specimens of C. clandestina were de- Indo-Pacific 3 species
contraria scribed as var. (Buquoy, Dautzenberg & (South) Australia 5 species
Dollfus, 1883), and as monstr. sinistrorsum New Zealand 1 species
(Dautzenberg, 1911).
It is not surprising that West and South Africa,
the West Indies and Australia have the largest Subgenus Microginella Laseron, 1957
number of sinistral species, as these areas are
C. (M. ) pumilio (Tate & May, 1901) Australia rich in Marginellidae. lhe relative high number
of sinistral species in the Mediterranean Sea,
This list shows that sinistrorsity is known from where only ten species of Marginellidae are found,
various and the be the of genera subgenera in Marginellidae. can explained by thorough exploration
the this Although genera Persicula Schumacher, 1817, area.
and Cryptospira Hinds, 1844, each have a nuntoer of
coirmon spëcies, no sinistral specimens were re- DISCUSSION
corded so far. The possibility of finding sini-
in with stral specimens other genera of the Marginelli- Conpared abnormal sinistral species known
is dae almost nil, mainly due to rarity. Two gen- from other marine gastropod families, the Margi-
Ihe era, Marginellona von Martens, 1903, and Afrivo- nellidae are exceptional. 29 sinistral margi-
luta form Tomlin, 1947, each comprise of only one spe- nellid species 41.1 % out of the 70 known
sinistral cies, M. gigas von Martens, 1903, and A. pringlei species of marine gastropods. Ihe num-
of Tomlin, 1947. These two species are very rare. The bers abnormal sinistral species in several
genus Pachybathron Gaskoin, 1853, contains two rare taxa of the Prosobranchia are suirmarized in ta-
ble in which the of the species (Coomans, 1972), the genus Rivomarginella I, special status Margi-
Brandt, 1968, also has two rare species, which are nellidae is shown.
living in freshwater (Coomans & Clover, 1972). The Sinistrorsity is more coirmon to the Volutacea
few of genus Canalispira Jousseaume, 1875,has a spe- than to the other three superfamilies the Neo-
cies which are not coitmon. gastropoda. At order level the Neogastropoda have
The far = 88.6 family Marginellidae contains many species. a higher (62 species %) sinistrorsity
Wagner & Abbott (1967: 136-172) recognized 580 than the Mesogastropoda (8 species = 11.4 %), living species. Since 29 species are known tohave whereas the Archaeogastropoda have none. This sinistral specimens, this makes 5%• According to seems to indicate that abnormal sinistrorsity is
Boss (1971: 106) the number of recent Marginelli- related to a higjier development in the marine
Prosobranchia. sinistral dae is 250 species; we feel that this nuirtoer can- Abnormal specimens are not be accepted, as it is based on an old species not recorded from the subclass Opisthobranchia. list by Tomlin (1917).
The distribution of the sinistral Marginelli- LITERATURE dae does not lead to any explanation of the higji Critical estimate of the BOSS, K.J., 19T1 - number percentage of sinistrorsity within this family. of recent Mollusca.- Occ. Pap. Moll., (Uo): 81-
135. The species with sinistral specimens are living in COAN, E., 1965. A proposed reclassification of the all tropical and subtropical waters where Margi- family Marginellidae.- Veliger, J_ (3): 18U— 19^*. 28
(Gas- COOMANS, H.E., 1972. The genus Pachybathron freshw. Res., Q (3): 84 figs. 36 (2-5): 1-6. tropoda).- Basteria, 89-96, figs. PLATT, R., 19l(9. Shells take you over world hori-
H.E. & P.W. The COOMANS, CLOVER, 1972. genus Rivo- zons.- Nation, geogr. Mag., £6(1): 33-81», in.
Beaufor- marginella (Gastropoda, Marginellidae).- SLIGGERS, B.C., 1971- Notities over Hydrobiaklei.-
tia, 20 (263): 69-75, figs. 1-9- Basteria, (5): 81-85, figs. 1-4.
J.R. LE A DANCE, S.P., 1972 a. Abnormal sinistrality in ma- TOMLIN, BROCKTON, 191T• systematic list
rine gastropod shells.- Conchiglia, (2) : 13. of the Marginellidae.- Proc. mal. Soc., _1_2: 242-
b. Abnormal sinistrism in 306. , 1972
shells of marine gasteropods.- Conchiglia, jt_ (3): WAGNER, R.J.L. & R.T. ABBOTT, 1967- Van Nostrand' s
11». standard catalog of shells, 2nd ed. : I-XI, 1-303,
A classification of the ill. LASERON, C.F., 1957- new (Van Nostrand, Princeton).
Australian Marginellidae (Mollusca), with a review WENZ, W., 1938-1941*. Gastropoda.- In: O.H. SCHIN-
of the from the Solanderian and Dampieri- DEWOLF, Handbuch der Palâozoologie species , £ (1): 1-1639,
Austral. J. 1+211 an zoogeographical provinces.- mar. figs. (Borntraeger, Berlin).
Table I. Numbers of known abnormal sinistral speciesspecies in several taxa of marine Gastropoda.
Subclass Order Superfamily Family
Prosobranchia - 70 Archaeogastropoda - 0
Mesogastropoda - 8
Muricacea - 7
Buccinacea - 9
Conacea - 3
Olividae - 2
Mitridae - 2
Vasidae - 3
Harpidae - 0
Volutidae - 7
Cancellariidae - 0
Marginellidae - 29
Drs. H.E. COOMANS
Institute of Taxonomic Zoology (Zoologisch Museum)
Plantage Middenlaan 53
Amsterdam - C, The Netherlands
Received: 10 January 1973 29
Fig. 1. Hyalina (Volvarina) effulgens (Reeve, 1865) from Bermuda.
a, Sinistral specimen, length 9.0 mm;
b, the same specimen as a, figured as a dextral shell;
normal 10.0 c, specimen, length mm.
Specimens in coll. Zoölogisch Museum Amsterdam.
Photographs L.A. van der Laan.