Ringicula crassidens Gofas & Luque sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 8E4FB886-47AD-479C-9B49-238DD01F4F27

Fig. 29H‒K

Etymology

The specific name refers to the characteristic columellar folds (‘ crassidens ’, thick teeth).

Type material

Holotype GALICIA BANK • 1 sh (Fig. 29 H ‒ I, 2.2 mm high); 42°28.81′ N, 11°50.03′ W; 1410 m; 8 Aug. 2011; BANGAL 0711 DR15; MNCN 15.05 /200140H.

Paratypes GALICIA BANK • 3 sh; same collection data as for holotype; MNCN 15.05 /200140P.

Other material examined

GALICIA BANK • 20 sh; 42°41.94′ N, 11°40.58′ W; 744 m; 31 Jul. 2011; BANGAL 0711 V4; MNCN.

Description

Shell small (holotype height 2.2 mm), semi-transparent, not very solid, globose, with a well defined suture and moderately elevated spire. Protoconch of a little more than half a whorl, smooth, without microsculpture even at high magnification. Teleoconch formed by 2½ whorls, the first one almost smooth, the last with about 38‒40 well marked, irregularly spaced spiral grooves which, under high magnification, appear as continuous series of square pits, and also with very fine growth lines; in the holotype there is also a growth stage in the last half whorl. Aperture slightly more than ⅔ of the total height, with two very marked columellar folds, the abapical one slightly larger, and with a very blunt and thick tooth in the middle of the parietal edge. Outer lip only slightly thickened, with a rounded edge. Very short siphonal canal. Colour uniformly white.

Remarks

This tiny species resembles Ringicula blanchardi Dautzenberg & H. Fischer, 1896, described from the bathyal of the Azores, with which it shares the considerable development of the parietal tooth and the very clear spiral sculpture. It differs from it, however, because of its smaller size and more globose shape and lower spire with almost one whorl less. The great development of the parietal tooth, absent even in adults of R. nitida, indicates that, despite the scarce thickening of the outer lip, these are adult shells. The specimen from the GB reported by Rolán Mosquera (1983: 280) as Ringicula blanchardi Dautzenberg & H. Fischer, 1896 is in such a bad state that it cannot be recognized.