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Posted: Oct 15 2012

 Cerithiopsis - Brownish in Western Atlantic, Journal article

Reference: Rolán, E., Lee, H., Krisberg, M. & Fernández-Garcés, R. 2012. The Protoconch and Early Teleoconch Whorls of the Brownish Cerithiopsis (Mollusca, Cerithiopsidae) in the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions. Xenophora, 139:11-16.
 

           THE PROTOCONCH AND EARLY TELEOCONCH WHORLS OF THE BROWNISH CERITHIOPSIS (MOLLUSCA,                                                 CERITHIOPSIDAE) IN THE CARIBBEAN AND CLOSE AREAS

                              Emilio Rolán, Harry G. Lee, Marlo Krisberg & Raúl Fernández-Garcés

Abstract
The protoconch and the early teleoconch whorls of the brownish species of Cerithiopsis from the Caribbean and adjacent regions are studied. With the information compiled in the present work, the diagnosis of any presented species may be resolved by comparison of the selected characters.

Abstract
Les protoconques et les premiers tours de la téleoconque des espèces brunes de Cerithiopsis des Caraïbes et des eaux adjacentes sont ici étudiées. Grâce à ces informations, l’iden¬tification d’une des espèces présentées dans cet article sera facilitée par la comparaison des spécificités des coquilles.

Introduction
The genus Cerithiopsis H. & A. Adams, 1853 in the Caribbean and close areas is poorly studied due to some reasons: the small size of these species, the numerous species existent and the great similarity of many of them.

Nevertheless, there are several works about this group, and they provide enough differences to allow specific separation. In this paper, we have focused on the brown Cerithiopsis from the western Atlantic.

We have selected those species which have shells of dark brown color, light uniform brown, yellowish or cream alternating with brown (which sometimes appear brownish) or those of variable color (which sometimes may be light brown or tan). Thus we have not included those species which are white in color, or cream, or white with cream or light shells with fine brown bands e.g., Cerithiopsis lata (C.B. Adams, 1850), C. pesa Dall & Bartsch, 1911, C. vicola Dall & Bartsch, 1911, C. cruzana Nowell-Usticke, 1958, C. warmkae de Jong & Coomans, 1988, C. guitart Espinosa & Ortea, 2001, C. beneitoi Rolán & Fernández-Garcés, 2007, C. familiarum Rolán & Fernández-Garcés, 2007, C. dilata Rolán & Fernández-Garcés, 2007, C. infrequens Rolán & Fernández-Garcés, 2007, and C. iuxtafuniculata Rolán & Fernández-Garcés, 2007. All these species and many others pure white in color may be revised in a future work.

Below are the descriptions of the protoconchs and early teleoconch whorls Most of these figures appear in Rolán & Espinosa (1995), Rolán et al. (2007), Rolán & Fernández-Garcés (2007 and 2010), and Figueira & Pimenta (2007). The species are presented alphabetical order to facilitate their location. Although some species are only known far from the Caribbean area, each has a multispiral protoconch, so it is not possible to eliminate the possibility of their reaching these waters:

Abbreviations
FLMNH - Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville
IBUFRJ - Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Rio de Janeiro
MCZ - Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard
MHNS - Museo de Historia Natural, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
MNCN - Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid
MNHN - Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Paris
MZSP - Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo
USNM - Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

Results
This list is in alphabetical order, but the figures were orde-red by the number of protoconch whorls, beginning with the shorter ones.

Cerithiopsis academicorum Rolán & Espinosa, 1995 usually has a dark brown shell with a protoconch of 3 1/2 to 4 1/4 whorls, uniformly brown and smooth. The early teleoconch whorls have three well separated spiral cords, but in the first whorls the upper two are not very close (Fig. 14).

Cerithiopsis aimen Rolán & Espinosa, 1995 has a brown shell, protoconch white and smooth with 3 1/2 whorls. The beginning of the teleoconch has the upper and the lower cords only. The third appears between the other two later, and below the spi¬ral 1 and 2 are closer (Fig. 12).

Cerithiopsis albovittata Rolán, Espinosa & Fernández-Garcés, 2007 has a shell with bands of color but sometimes all brown. The protoconch is cream to light brown, 5 whorls, and one spiral cord is near the lower suture with axial short threads in the suture between the whorls. Three spirals at the beginning of the teleoconch (Fig. 22).

Cerithiopsis apexcostata Rolán, Espinosa & FernándezGar-cés, 2007 has a brown shell, a protoconch with 4 convex whorls, whitish, and with axial small ribs on the lower half in the two lower whorls. Teleoconch with 3 spiral cords at the beginning, but the upper one is very small. In the following whorls, spiral 1 and 2 are closer (Fig. 15).

Cerithiopsis ara Dall & Bartsch, 1911 has a brown shell with a white band, sometimes less apparent. The protoconch is 4 1/2 light whorls, the first one with spiral cords and the subse¬quent with axial ribs crossed by smaller spiral threads; three spiral at the beginning of the teleoconch (Fig. 21).

Cerithiopsis balaustium Figueira & Pimenta, 2008 has a shell of light brown color, protoconch light brown, with about 3 whorls and covered by axial incomplete ribs. The teleoconch begins with two spiral cords, the upper one produced by the fusion of the spirals 1 and 2 (Fig. 10).

Cerithiopsis capixaba Figueira & Pimenta, 2008 has a shell of light brown color, protoconch with about 4-4 1/2 whorls of similar color and covered by axial ribs and small granules or¬ganized in spiral rows. The teleoconch begins with two spiral cords the upper one is produced by the fusion of spirals 1 and 2 (Fig. 19).

Cerithiopsis ceac Rolán & Fernández-Garcés, 2010 has a light brown shell and a protoconch of 2 whorls, cream in color and smooth. Three spiral cords at the beginning of the teleoconch, the upper one smaller only on the first whorl (Fig. 3).

Cerithiopsis dominguezi Rolán & Espinosa, 1995 has a brown shell, and the protoconch has 5 smooth whorls, being white on the upper one and brown on the subsequent whorls. The spiral cords on the early teleoconch whorls number three and are evenly spaced (Fig. 23).

Cerithiopsis flava (C.B. Adams, 1850) has a variable shell in color, usually tan or light brown. The protoconch is very sharp pointed, with 5 whorls, usually brown at the apex and whitish in the rest, having a spiral cord near the lower suture, which has riblets within it. Three spiral cords at the beginning of the teleoconch (Fig. 24).

Cerithiopsis fuscoflava Rolán & Espinosa, 1995 has a yellowish-tan shell; the protoconch with only one whorl, white and smooth. The spiral cords on the early teleoconch whorls are three well separated, the upper one slightly smaller (Fig. 1).

Cerithiopsis fusiformis (C.B. Adams, 1850) has a brown shell; protoconch whitish with 4 smooth whorls, with an angulation at the periphery of the lower one, and sometimes has microsculpture. Three spiral cords at the beginning of the teleoconch but the two upper cords are closer on the first whorl and almost fused on the two following ones (Fig. 16).

Cerithiopsis gemmulosa (C. B. Adams, 1850) has a shell brown in color, a brown protoconch with 3 1/2 smooth whorls. The three spiral cords on the early teleoconch are well separated, the upper one being smaller (Fig. 13).

Cerithiopsis gordaensis Rolán & Fernández-Garcés, 2007 has a shell dirty white or tan; the protoconch has 2 1/2 or a little more whorls, which are smooth, whitish, and the beginning of the teleoconch has three spiral cords (Fig. 9)

Cerithiopsis greenii (C. B. Adams, 1839) was not presented in the revision of Rolán & Espinosa (1995) and, to our knowledge, has never been adequately demonstrated. The shell is brown in color. The SEM study of the protoconchs and early teleoconch whorls was made on specimens from Weekapaug Point, Rhode Island, located about 65 km from the type locality (Dartmouth, Massachusetts) allowing us the examination of these features. The protoconchs of the examined specimens have 4 and 1/8 whorls, are cream in color, smooth, and with a basal diameter of 320 µm. The early teleoconch whorls have three separate spiral cords, the lowest one a little larger. On the following whorls, the two upper cords are a little clo¬ser, but without any fusion between them (Fig. 20). We can fi nd no evidence for the occurrence of C. greenii in Caribbean waters. It may be a limited to a portion of the eastern coast of the USA (Lee, 2009).

Cerithiopsis iontha Bartsch, 1911 has a brown shell, with 2 whorls of protoconch, which is white in color and smooth. Spirals 1 and 2 on the early teleoconch whorls are closer (Fig. 4).

Cerithiopsis krisbergi Rolán & Fernández-Garcés, 2007 has a short brown shell, with a white protoconch with 3 1/4 whorls which appear to be smooth but has a very small cord just above the suture and microsculpture. The three spiral cords on the early teleoconch whorls are well separated (Fig. 11).

Cerithiopsis morelosensis Rolán & Fernández-Garcés, 2010 has a light brown shell, with a protoconch of same color and 2 smooth whorls. The beginning of the teleoconch presents three spiral cords, the upper one slightly smaller in first whorl and slightly closer (Fig. 5).

Cerithiopsis movilla Dall & Bartsch, 1911 has a light brown shell, with a brown short protoconch of about 2 whorls. The beginning of the teleoconch with three spirals (Fig. 6).

Cerithiopsis parvada Rolán & Fernández-Garcés, 2007 has a light brown shell. The protoconch has 4-4 1/2 whorls which present a variable cream color, a cord near the lower suture, and riblets on it. Three spirals at the beginning of the teleoconch; spiral 1 a little smaller, and spirals 1 and 2 are slightly closer on first two whorls (Fig.18).

Cerithiopsis portoi Rolán & Espinosa, 1995 has a brown shell with a brown and smooth protoconch with between 2 and 2 1/2 whorls. The three spiral cords on the early teleoconch whorls are well separated (Fig. 8).

Cerithiopsis prieguei Rolán & Espinosa, 1995 has a brown shell, protoconch smooth and white with 4 whorls, having from the second a prominent cord on its lower part, and the third and fourth with two cords and axial threads between them. The early teleoconch whorls have three spiral cords, the upper two rather close (Fig. 17).

Cerithiopsis pseudomovilla Rolán & Espinosa, 1995 has a brownish shell and a dark brown protoconch with about 2 smooth whorls. The three spiral cords on the early teleo-conch whorls are well separated at the beginning, below the upper two slightly closer (Fig. 7).

Cerithiopsis satisnodosa Rolán & Fernández-Garcés, 2010 has a brown shell with a white and smooth protoconch with about 1 3/4 whorls. The three spiral cords are well separate (Fig. 2).

Cerithiopsis vanhyningi Bartsch, 1918. We find in the original description that the shell is described as chestnut brown and the apex white; the teleoconch has the upper whorls lighter than the base, “the first marked by two slender spiral cords...”. Lee (2009: 86) examined nine paratypes of C. vanhyningi at the FLMNH (UF10153) and found them to be identical to C. fusiformis as were three other lots (UF 10151, UF 10154, UF 10155) from the type locality (Tampa Bay, Florida). We consider C. vanhyningi to be a junior synonym of C. fusiformis.

Acknowledgments
Jesús Méndez of the Centro de Apoyo Científico y Tecnológico a la Investigación (CACTI) of the University of Vigo made the SEM photographs. Dr. James T. Carlton and R. Rock-Blake of Williams College, Mystic, Connecticut, collected the material studied of C. greenii. We thank them all for making this study possible. Alexandre Pimenta authorized the publication of photographs from his Brazil works.

References
Figueira, R. & Pimenta, A. 2007. Two New Species of the Genus Cerithiopsis Forbes & Hanley, 1850 (Gastropoda: Cerithiopsidae) from Brazil. The Veliger, 50(2): 72-80.
Lee, H.G., 2009. Marine shells of northeast Florida. Jackson-ville Shell Club, Inc., Jacksonville, FL. 204 pp. + 19 color pls. May 28.
Rolán, E. & Espinosa, J., 1995. The family Cerithiopsidae (Mol¬lusca: Gastropoda) in Cuba 3. The genus Cerithiopsis s. l., species with brown shell. Iberus, 13(2): 129-147.
Rolán, E., Espinosa, J. & Fernández-Garcés, R., 2007. The fa-mily Cerithiopsidae in Cuba. 4. The genus Cerithiopsis s. l., the banded and the variably coloured species. Neptunea, 6(2): 1-29.
Rolán, E. & Fernández-Garcés, R., 2007. A new species of Cerithiopsis from Florida, USA (Prosobranchia, Cerithiopsidae). Iberus, 25(1): 37-41.
Rolán, E. & Fernández-Garcés, R., 2010. Four new Cerithiopsis from the Caribbean. Basteria, 74(4-6): 73-77.

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