Beringius aurulentus Mclean & Clark 2023, n. sp.

Beringius aurulentus n. sp.

Figure 12 A–D urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 52353F2F-07C7-43FB-9344-14A0E1718D58

Type locality: Tahoma Bank, W of Buldir Island, Aleutian Is., Alaska (52°26.12 N, 175°40.99 E), 147 m. (NMFS 94-200201 - 167).

Type material: Holotype, LACM 3577, 117 mm. (leg. RNC, 9 July, 2002, trawled, R/ V Vesteraalen); Paratypes: Pt 1, SBMNH 464996, 92.4 mm; Pt 2, USNM 1606661, 105.4 mm. W of Uliaga Island, Islands of Four Mountains (53°07.07 N, 169°52.12 W), 321 m. (NMFS 57-200201 - 38); Pt 3, CASIZ 236198, 99.5 mm. SE of Yunaska Island, Islands of Four Mountains (52°44.8 N, 170°39.3 W), 87 m (NMFS 143-201001 - 78); Pt 4, RNC 4701, 88.6 mm. (type locality).

Description: Shell moderately large (to 117 mm, Holotype), slender, nearly fusiform, suture impressed; white to pale tan; periostracum golden-tan. Protoconch with 2.5 whorls, with spiral and oblique cords forming diamond-like lattice; teleconch with 4.5–5 whorls. Axial ribs faint or lacking, but bearing very numerous, fine, close-set, raised axial threads. Spiral sculpture (when present), consists of a few barely detectable cords (on old, thick specimens, i.e., paratype three). Aperture short, much less than half of shell height, canal short, broad.

Radula (Fig. 12D): Rachidian tooth broader than long, lateral edges rounded, anterior and posterior edges slightly indented. Lateral teeth large, tricuspid; outer cusp thick, tapering, strongly curved, or distal half, and often bearing a small protrusion near the base on the inside, forming a notch between it and the central cusp; central cusp many times smaller than outer one, and slightly curved outward; inner denticle about twice as large as central one, broad, strongly curved inward.

Remarks: This species resembles Beringius incisus (Dall, 1907) (figs. 9D–G) [herein recognized as distinct from the variable Beringius kennicottii (Dall, 1871) (figs. 8A–G) on account of its fine, regular, spiral threads], but is distinguished by 1) the lamellar periostracum, and 2) the fine axial threads on the whorls as opposed to spiral threads only in Beringius incisus.

Etymology: Latin, aurulentus, “golden, or made of gold”, in reference to the color of the periostracum.

Distribution: Central Aleutian Islands, from Kagamil Pass, Islands of Four Mountains (169°50’ W) to Tahoma Reef, W of Buldir Island (175°40’ E), at depths of 147– 321 m.

Habitat: Broken hydrocoral/sponge, and gravel bottoms, with a bottom temperature of 4–4.4°C.