The protoconch and early teleoconch whorls of Cerithiopsis greenii (C. B. Adams, 1839) (Mollusca, Cerithiopsidae)

摘要

Recently Rolán, Lee, Krisberg, & Fernández-Garcés (2012) published a review of the brownish Cerithiopsis in the Caribbean and adjacent regions that focused on the protoconch and initial teleoconch whorls to distinguish among species. Since the lectotype of Cerithiopsis greenii (C. B. Adams, 1839) is decollate, the authors relied upon a specimen with a complete protoconch collected in 2010 from Weekapaug Point, Rhode Island, located about 65 km from Adams's type locality (Dartmouth Harbor, Massachusetts, USA) that they believed was indeed Adams's taxon. They presented SEM images of the Weekapaug specimen with descriptive comments of the protoconch and early teleoconch whorls. At the time the review was published, there remained some doubt in one author's mind (Krisberg) that the lectotype and the Weekapaug specimen were the same taxon. The doubt arose from Adams's description to the effect that the first teleoconch whorl displayed only two elevated spiral lines, whereas the SEM images of the Weekapaug specimen clearly show three. The purpose of this paper is to recount the subsequent research to resolve this discrepancy and validate that the Weekapaug specimen conforms exactly to the lectotype regarding the key sculptural characters of the first teleoconch whorls and, therefore, can be confidently relied upon to form the basis of a more comprehensive description of Cerithiopsis greenii (C. B. Adams, 1839).