Liostomia eburnea (Stimpson, 1851)

Høisaeter, Tore, 2014, The Pyramidellidae (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia) of Norway and adjacent waters. A taxonomic review, Fauna norvegica 34, pp. 7-78 : 52-53

Liostomia eburnea (Stimpson, 1851)

Figure 86

Rissoa eburnea Stimpson, 1851:14

Rissoella? eburnea (Stimpson) - Gould & Binney 1870; G.O. Sars 1878 (in synonymy)

Liostomia eburnea (Stimpson) - G.O. Sars 1878; Whiteaves 1901; Norman 1902; Odhner 1915; Thiele 1928; Nordsieck 1972; Warén 1991; Høisaeter 2009

Odostomia (Liostomia) eburnea (Stimpson) - Bartsch 1909; Bush 1909; van Aartsen 1987

Ptychostomon (Liostomia) eburnea (Stimpson) - Kobelt 1903

Menestho (Liostomia) eburnea (Stimpson) - Høisaeter 1986

(not Jeffreysia nitida sp.n. - Friele 1876:61; Warén 1991

Menestho (Liostomia) nitida ( Friele, 1876 ex M. Sars MS) - Høisaeter 1986)

Type material: Neotype (4.2 mm), USNM 503943 (Figure 27C in Warén 1991).

Type locality: Massachusetts Bay , off Cape Ann (42º38’N, 54 m) USA. (This is the locality of Stimpson’s specimen, now lost. The neotype is from Maine, Frenchmans Bay , 27 m) .

Material seen: Norway – Finnmark, 1 sh ( ZMBN 28182 , Vadsø) .

Diagnosis: Shell: Large for the ‘genus’, up to 4.6 mm, solid, body whorl swollen and large compared to penultimate whorl. Soft parts: Not known. Operculum: See G.O. Sars 1878, Figure 10, 13c).

Biology: Not known.

Distribution: In Norway confirmed only from Varangerfjorden in east Finnmark (G.O. Sars 1878, Norman 1902, both based on the same material). According to Warén (1991) a number of shells in SMNH and BMNH from ‘northern Norway’. These are probably also from the same lot in Varangerfjorden. A single known shell of Jeffreysia nitida was taken by M. Sars near Florø (61°36’N). Outside Norway it is known from Massachusetts to Gulf of St. Lawrence, east to Spitzbergen ( Odhner 1915, Warén 1991) and the Russian part of Barents Sea and Chuckchi Sea ( Kantor & Sysoev 2006).

Remarks: Although recorded only a few times, at least nine illustrations of this species have been published, i.e. in Stimpson (1851), Gould & Binney (1870), G.O. Sars (1878), Bush (1909), Odhner (1915), van Aartsen (1987), Warén (1991) (two shells) and finally Kantor & Sysoev (2006). The species figured by Gould & Binney is not the same species as the one described by Stimpson (as also remarked by Bush 1909). The gap between the Norwegian location and the American type locality is large, and may rise the question if specimens from both locations really belong to the same species, but a comparison of the shells indicate a close relationship.

Warén (1991) synonymized Jeffreysia nitida Friele with L. eburnean , although he did not succeed in locating the only known shell of J. nitida , and his decision is thus based on Friele’s (sketchy) drawing and description. Friele compared the actual specimen with Stimpson’s drawing of L. eburnea , and found them easy to separate. Also G.O. Sars (1878) had access to both specimens and concludes that they were specifically different (according to Warén, Sars found them to be identical). I find it unlikely that the two are the same species, both because the oceanographic conditions near Florø are definitely not Arctic in any sense (like they are in all other north-east Atlantic locations where L. eburnea has been recorded), and I have a high regard for the opinion of both Friele and G.O. Sars. The lack of material precludes any further discussion, and J. nitida must remain an enigma. I agree with Warén that the generic placement of L. eburnea is just a matter of convenience, no other described genus seems to fit.