VENUS 71 (1–2): 1–11, 2013 ©Malacological Society of Japan Description of Two New Species of Trophoninae s.l. and Typhinae (Gastropoda: Muricidae) from New Caledonia and Comments on Litozamia Iredale, 1929 and Siphonochelus Jousseaume, 1880 Roland Houart* Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique, rue Vautier, 29, B-1000 Bruxelles, Belgium Abstract: Litozamia acares n. sp. and Siphonochelus (Trubatsa) wolffi n. sp. are described from New Caledonia. The radula and the operculum of Litozamia acares are illustrated and described. The classification of Litozamia in Trophoninae is maintained awaiting molecular data to either confirm or modify this decision. Litozamia longior (Verco, 1909) is reinstated as a valid species. The use of the subgenus Choreotyphis Iredale, 1936 is reinstated in Siphonochelus for a single species from eastern Australia, based on differences in shell morphology. Keywords: West Pacific, New Caledonia, Trophoninae s.l., Typhinae, new data, new species Introduction A large number of oceanographic expeditions conducted by MNHN and ORSTOM (later IRD) were organized starting in the early 1980s to sample the malacological fauna of the West and South Pacific. The richness of the malacofauna of the New Caledonia region, particularly from deep water is without equivalent in other areas of the Indo-Pacific (Bouchet et al., 2008). No less than 83 new species of Muricidae have been described in several papers since 1983, that means about 38% of the total number of named Muricidae (excluding Coralliophilinae) occur in New Caledonia. To date, three major revisions have been published to review the subfamilies Typhinae (Houart, 1991), Ergalataxinae (Houart, 1995a) and Trophoninae (Houart, 1995b). The two species described herein were collected around the island during 11 expeditions between 1978–79 and 1994. All specimens are deposited in the MNHN unless otherwise specified. Repositories: JW, collection of John Wolff, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA; MNHN, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris, France; RH, collection of Roland Houart. Abbreviations: CC, Chalut à crevettes (Shrimp trawl); CP, Chalut à perche (Beam trawl); dd, empty shell(s); DE, Drague Epibenthique (Epibenthic dredge); DR, Drague à roches (rock dredge); DW, Drague Warén (Warén dredge); IRD, Institut de recherche pour le développement; lv, live collected specimen(s); ORSTOM, Office de la recherche scientifique et technique outre- mer. * Corresponding author: [email protected] 2 R. Houart Fig. 1. Spiral cords and apertural denticle morphology of Litozamia acares n. sp. Terminology used to describe the spiral cords (based on Merle, 1999 and 2001) (Fig. 1) (Terminology in parentheses: erratic feature): P, primary cord; IP, infrasutural primary cord (primary cord on subsutural ramp); P1, shoulder cord; P2–P6, primary cords of the convex part of the teleoconch whorl; ADP, adapertural primary cord on the siphonal canal; D1–D5, abapical denticles in aperture. Systematic Account Faumily M ricidae Rafinesque, 1815 Subfamily Trophoninae s.l. Cossmann, 1903 Genus Litozamia Iredale, 1929 Type species by original designation: Litozamia rudolphi (Brazier, 1895), Recent, New South Wales, Australia. Remarks: The subfamily Trophoninae is currently known to be polyphyletic (Barco et al., 2010). To my knowledge, this is the first time that the radula and the operculum of Litozamia are illustrated. Both are typical muricine, but the subfamilial classification of the genus remains doubtful. It is currently classified in Trophoninae in a conservative way (Houart, 2010) as cited by Radwin & D’Attilio (1976: 183), awaiting future study of the molecular characters when more adequate material will become available. Litozamia acares n. sp. (Figs. 1, 3–5, 29, 31–33) Type material: Holotype, MNHN 25086; 7 paratypes,N M HN 25088; 1 paratype, RH. New Species of Trophoninae and Typhinae 3 Fig. 2. Distribution of Siphonochelus (Trubatsa) wolffi n. sp. Type locality: New Caledonia, off Nouméa, reef flat, îlot Maître, 22°20´S, 166°26´E, detritic mounts, tidal [LAGON: stn 1351, Bouchet & Marshall coll., 25 November 1992]. Material examined: New Caledonia. LAGON, stn 1351, off Nouméa, reef flat îlot Maître, 22°20´S, 166°26´E, detritic mounts, tidal. Distribution: Only known from the type material, New Caledonia, off Nouméa, tidal. Etymology: Acares (Greek): short, little, in reference to the tiny shell. Description: Shell small for the genus, reaching 4 mm in height (holotype), height / width ratio 2.4, slender, narrow, nodose. Subsutural ramp strongly sloping, weakly convex. Light tan with slightly darker coloured subsutural ramp and base of siphonal canal; spiral cords P1, P2, P3 and tip of siphonal canal creamy white. Narrow space between cords brown. Aperture creamy white, occasionally with brown lines between. spiral cords seen in transparency. Spire very high with 1.5 protoconch whorls (Fig. 29). Teleoconch of 4 narrow, weakly shouldered, nodose whorls. Suture impressed. Protoconch large, low. Diameter 400 mm. Whorls smooth with single obvious narrow keel adapically. Terminal lip shallow, delicate, thin, weakly curved. Axial sculpture of teleoconch whorls consisting of high, broad, nodose ribs. Other axial sculpture of few weak growth striae. Spiral sculpture of high, strong, broad primary cords and weak lirae. First whorl with visible P1 and P2, second with narrow IP, and broad P1 and P2, third whorl of subadult specimen with narrow IP, P1–P6 and ADP, last whorl of holotype with narrow IP, P1–P6, ADP and weak MP. P1-P3 broadest, of similar size, P4–P6 narrow, also of similar size, ADP narrower. Entire shell covered with narrow spiral striae on and between primary spiral cords. Aperture small, narrow, ovate. Columellar lip narrow, smooth. Rim adherent, very weakly detached for short distance abapically. Anal notch broad, shallow. Outer lip erect with 4 weak denticles within (D1–D2 fused, D3, D4, D5). Siphonal canal relatively short, broad, tapering abapically, narrowly open. Operculum ovate with terminal nucleus on lower right (Fig. 31). Radula (Figs. 32–33) with rachidian bearing broad, long central cusp with weakly smaller and narrower lateral denticle, broad, long lateral cusp on each side and small, narrow, marginal cusp. Lateral teeth sickle-shaped with broad base. 4 R. Houart Figs. 3–5. Litozamia acares n. sp., New Caledonia, off Nouméa, reef flat îlot Maître, stn 1351, 22°20´S, 166°26´E, detritic mounts, tidal. 3–4. Holotype, MNHN 25086, 4 mm. 5. Paratype, MNHN 25088, 3.4 mm. Figs. 6–10. Litozamia rudolphi (Brazier, 1895). 6–8. Green point, Watsons Bay, Sydney Harbour, NSW, Australia, syntypes, AM C2892; 6, 6.3 mm; 7–8, 5.9 mm. 9–10. North Head, Sydney, NSW, 33 m, 5.9 mm, RH. Figs. 11–16. Siphonochelus (Trubatsa) wolffi n. sp. 11–13. Eastern New Caledonia, 20°57´S, 165°35´E, 205–219 m, holotype, M NHN 25089, 14.3 mm. 14–16. Eastern New Caledonia, 21°52´S, 166°47´E, 120–180 m, paratype, MNHN 25093, 9.7 mm. New Species of Trophoninae and Typhinae 5 Figs. 17–18. Siphonochelus (Trubatsa) wolffi n. sp., Eastern New Caledonia, 21°02´S, 165°38´E, 350–400 m, paratype, MNHN 25094, 19.6 mm. Figs. 19–22. Siphonochelus (Trubatsa) unicornis Houart, 1991. 19–20. New Caledonia, 22°47´ S, 167°22´ E, 390 m, holotype, MNHN 0890, 12 mm. 21–22. South New Caledonia, 22°59´ S, 168°21´ E – 23°S, 168°23´ E, 491–558 m, RH, 11.6 mm. Figs. 23–24. Siphonochelus (Trubatsa) saltantis Houart, 1991, Coral Sea, Nova Seamount, 22°12´ S, 159°23´ E, 332 m, holotype, MNHN 0896, 9.2 mm. Figs. 25–28. Siphonochelus (Choreotyphis) pavlova (Iredale, 1936), Cape Moreton, Queensland, Australia; 25–27, 15.5 mm; 28, 11.2 mm. 6 R. Houart Figs. 29, 31–33. Litozamia acares n. sp. 29. Protoconch of the specimen illustrated in Text Fig. 1 (scale bar = 250 mm). 31. Operculum (scale bar = 200 mm). 32–33. Radula (32, scale bar = 20 mm; 33, scale bar = 10 mm). Fig. 30. Protoconch of Litozamia rudolphi (Brazier, 1895), RH (scale bar = 250 mm). Remarks: This is the second known species of Litozamia collected in New Caledonia. Litozamia tropis Houart, 1995 from northeastern New Caledonia, described from empty shells only, differs from L. acares n. sp. in having a double keel on the protoconch, and in having a strongly spirally striate, more strongly shouldered and spiny shell. The protoconch in both species has the same number of whorls, but that of L. tropis is about half the size. Litozamia acares n. sp. differs from the quite similar L. rudolphi (Brazier, 1895) (Figs. 6–10) from New South Wales, Australia in having a relatively smaller and narrower, less shouldered shell with a less sloping and narrower subsutural ramp, broader and more narrowly spaced primary spiral cords, and a relatively narrower and smaller aperture. The protoconch in L. acares n. sp. is more strongly keeled, with a keel situated more abapically (Fig. 29), compared to L. rudolphi, which has a more rounded protoconch with a narrow adapical keel (Fig. 30). The protoconch of L. rudolphi was described as “mammillated” [sic] (Brazier in Henn, 1895: 166). Beechey (2010) also illustrated 3 specimens of L. rudolphi from New South Wales. The species is restricted to New South Wales and Tasmania. The genus Litozamia currently includes 6 species: L. brazieri (Tenison Woods, 1876), L. latior (Verco, 1909), L. rudolphi (Brazier, 1895), L. subtropicalis (Iredale, 1913) and L. tropis Houart, 1995. Trophon longior Verco, 1909, until now considered a synonym of T. rudolphi (see Houart, 2010), has a quite different protoconch morphology consisting of a first whorl with a duplicate New Species of Trophoninae and Typhinae 7 keel and a last whorl with a strong single keel (Verco, 1909: fig. 5), and is here reinstated as a valid species. Subfamily Typhinae Cossmann, 1903 Genus Siphonochelus Jousseaume, 1880 Type species by original designation: Typhis arcuatus Hinds, 1843, South Africa (Fig.