Moluscos marinos de la isla de Alborán

Data on the molluscs collected since 1980 in the area of Alboran island (Western Mediterranean) are presented. The bathymetric range covered in this study ranges from the supralittoral level down to the upper bathyal (about 450 m deep). A description of the benthic communities of this area is given. As a result of this work, 655 species of molluscs have been found in the material studied (1 solenogastre, 12 polyplacophorans, 494 gastropods, 136 bivalves, 1 scaphopod and 11 cephalopods). 646 of these species have been identified to the species level, 8 of them have been described as new (belonging to the genera Parviturbo, Bittium, Cerithiopsis, Curveulima, Setia, Alvania, Eulimella and Odostomia), and the remaining 9 have been only identified to the generic level. Cerithiopsis perlata and Anidolyta duebeni are recorded for the first time on the Spanish coasts, Anatoma crispata, Cosmotriphora melanura, Epitonium brevissimum and Eulima fuscozonata have been found for the first time in the Mediterranean Sea, and 33 other species are recorded for the first time on the Spanish Mediterranean coasts. Epitonium brevissimum, only known hitherto from the Pliocene, has been found (probably Recent) in the Mediterranean and offW. Britain. The genus Houartiella Smriglio, Mariottini and Bonfitto, 1997 is considered a junior synonym of Trophonopsis Bucquoy, Dautzenberg and Dollfus, 1882, Coralliophila alboranensis Smriglio and Mariottini, 2003 is considered a junior synonym of Coralliophila brevis (Blainville, 1832) and Eulimella verduini van Aarsten, Gittenberger and Goud, 1998 is considered a junior synonym of Eulimella neoattenuata Gaglini, 1992. Besides, some comments on nearly 90 species are given and most of them are illustrated with scanning microscopy micrographs. Colour photographs of living specimens of some species are also presented.