Eulimella compactilis ( Jeffreys, 1867 )

Høisaeter, Tore, 2014, The Pyramidellidae (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia) of Norway and adjacent waters. A taxonomic review, Fauna norvegica 34, pp. 7-78 : 57-59

Eulimella compactilis ( Jeffreys, 1867)

Figure 97 -98

Odostomia Scillae var. compactilis Jeffreys, 1867:169

Odostomia compactilis Jeffreys - Jeffreys 1884 ; Marshall 1893, 1900, 1917

Eulimella compactilis (Jeffreys) - G.O. Sars 1878; Locard 1899; Friele & Grieg 1901; Kobelt 1903; Winckworth 1932; Fretter & Graham 1962; Warén 1980; Fretter et al. 1986; Høisaeter 1986; Smith & Heppell 1991; van Aartsen 1994

Eulimella ‘compactilis’ (sensu G.O. Sars, 1878) - Høisaeter 2009

Eulimella scillae (Jeffreys) - Warén 1991; Schander 1995

Odostomia scillae var. compactilis (Jeffreys) - Marshall 1894

Eulimella scillae var. compactilis (Jeffreys) - Ankel 1936

Eulimella superflua Monterosato - Nordsieck 1972

Type material: Lectotype (4.0 mm) USNM 132573 (van Aartsen 1994) , Syntype NHMO D 997 .

Type locality: Lofoten Islands , leg G.O. Sars .

Material seen: Norway – Norwegian Trench , 13 spms (83.11.17.5, 61°30’N, 311 m) ; Hordaland, 16 spms, 3 shs; Sogn og Fjordane, 1 spm (82.01.18.16), 1 sh ( ZMBN 22819 ) , Møre og Romsdal, 3 spms, 2 shs.

Diagnosis: Shell: Eulimella with fairly elongate, slightly cyrtoconoid shell. Apical angle 19° or less. Total shell length not exceeding 5 mm. Number of whorls eight or less. Shell delicate, thin, transparent, smooth with fine sinuous growth lines. Whorls evenly rounded or somewhat flattened. Body whorl evenly rounded below. Aperture higher than broad, flaring out below. Columellar fold not distinguishable. Protoconch large for genus (diameter about 320 µm), planorboid, only slightly inclined (angle of inclination about 90°). First postnuclear whorl around 180 µm high. Soft parts: Not known. Operculum: Not known.

Biology: Not known, but the species seems to be confined to the soft bottoms of our deeper fjords, with its upper depth limit at about 150 to 200 m.

Distribution: G.O. Sars (1878) reports it from Lofoten, 350-750 m, and also several specimens from the western coast of Norway. Friele & Grieg (1901) reported a specimen from Vestfjorden (c. 68°N), but this turned out to be a fragment of what I have called Eulimella frielei n.sp. below. In my material several samples from Møre og Romsdal, of which only three specimens from Voldafjorden (62°10’N, 650-690 m, soft bottom) were live caught. Otherwise fairly common in the deep fjords around Bergen (300-450 m) and in the Norwegian Trench, a total of 33 specimens. There are no verified records of this species outside Norwegian waters. There is a slight possibility that it is also found in deep water in the North Atlantic as well as in the Mediterranean, if the four records of Jeffreys (1884) from the Porcupine expedition (see also Marshall 1900), as well as the suggested synonymy with E. superflua Monterosato, 1875 , is substantiated. Warén (1991) however, dismissed these four specimens as a mixture of three different species, probably undescribed.

Remarks: This species was introduced as a variety of E. scillae by Jeffreys in 1867, based on two specimens dredged in the Hebrides. In 1878, G.O. Sars reported a form from Norwegian waters which he regarded as identical with Jeffreys’ variety (after having conferred with Jeffreys). G.O. Sars argued strongly for the recognition of this form as a separate species. In the material from the Porcupine expeditions, Jeffreys found four additional specimens of what he regarded as this form, and influenced by these new finds in addition to the work of G.O. Sars, Jeffreys (1884) recognized it as specifically distinct from E. scillae . Marshall (1893, 1900, 1918) accepted it as a valid species, and mentioned a handful of shells from west of the British Isles and Ireland.

The form Jeffreys named as a variety of E. scillae from the Hebrides is probably not identical to the material reported from Lofoten by G.O. Sars. Based on his material from Lofoten, G.O. Sars is positive that the specimens he studied are specifically separate from E. scillae . Warén (1980) found that the syntype from the Hebrides in thr USNM is a shell of E. laevis , and proposed to select the specimen from Lofoten donated to Jeffreys and today found in USNM, as lectotype for the species as this decision will conserve the name. Van Aartsen (1994) followed this suggestion and formally designated this specimen (USNM 132573) as lectotype of E. compactilis ( Jeffreys, 1867) . Warén (1991) claims that the specimens determined by G.O. Sars in the Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, are juveniles of E. scillae . After having compared my material with one of the (18) syntypes of G.O. Sars’ (Figure 98 left) I am convinced that it is a good species, distinguished among other things, from E. scillae by its protoconch (cf. Figures 97 and 99 ). Figure 98 shows specimens from respectively Lofoten (68°N), Fanafjorden (60°13’N) and the Norwegian Trench (61°30’N).

Figures

Figure 97. Eulimella compactilis. Specimen from outer part of Fanafjorden, silt w/gravel and much Saccammina-Rhabdammina, A. Warén, 60°13.5’N, 05°14.3’E, 185-200 m, 4.3 mm (ZMBN 82890). Figure 98. Eulimella compactilis. Three specimens, from left: a syntype (one of 18) from Lofoten (NHMO D 997), 4.0 mm; Fanafjorden, NW of Korsneset, 60°13’ N, 220-230 m mud w/gravel and foraminiferans, leg. A. Warén; Norwegian Trench 61°30’N, 02°00’E, 311m, 3.45 mm (SEM).

Figure 99. Eulimella scillae. Specimen from between Songvår and Hellesøy, Søgne (Vest-Agder), 58°01’N, 07°49’E, 75-70 m, 4.2 mm (S 47-88). Figure 100. Eulimella scillae. Three orientations of protoconch, head-foot complex, and pigmented mantle organ. Figure 101. Eulimella ventricosa. At left a specimen from Skagerrak SE of Store Torungen, (Aust-Agder) 58°22’N, 08°50.2’E, 79 m, 5.0 mm (S 4-86), and at right two specimens from Kobbeleia, Raunefjorden, 60°17.7’N, 05°08.7’E, 70-90 m, 4.75 mm and 1.3 mm (2007-1). Figure 102. Eulimella ventricosa. Three orientations of protoconch, pigmented mantle organ, and head-foot complex of crawling snail. Figure 103. Eulimella frielei n. sp. Holotype (ZMBN 1044). Figure 104. Eulimella frielei n.sp. Holotype. Detail of shell showing growth lines. Figure 105. Top whorls of four specimens of Eulimella, from left: E. laevis, E. frielei n.sp. and two specimens of E. ventricosa.