The family Elachisinidae (Mollusca, Rissooidea) in the temperate and tropical Atlantic

The Atlantic species of the genus Elachisina Dall, 1918 (Mollusca, Rissooidea), including those hitherto placed in other genera, are revised. In total there are four previously known species (E. floridana (Rehder, 1943), from the Caribbean, E. eritima (Smith, 1891), from St. Helena Island, E. canarica (Nordsieck and Garcia-Talavera, 1979) (comb. nov.), from the Canaries and E. canaliculata Rolán and Rubio, 2001, from the Cape Verde Islands), besides seven species which are described as new to science (E. azoreana n. sp., from the Azores, E. tenuisculpta n. sp., E. pergrandis n. sp., E. pelorcei n. sp., E. senegalensis n. sp., E. gubbiolii n. sp. and E. catenata n. sp. from the West African coasts) and one more species which we figure without naming it awaiting appropriate material. The insular species are endemic of their respective archipelagoes, and have a paucispiral protoconch that suggests non-planktotrophic development. Four out of the sixWest African species have a multispiral protoconch and a probable planktotrophic development, but among them only three have been collected in an extensive geographical range from Mauritania or Senegal to Angola. Taking into account the new species described herein and current knowledge,West Africa appears as a center of high species richness for the family.