Comitas parvifusiformis sp. nov. (Figures 7, 8)

Material examined. Holotype: CN S140B-41, SCS, 21°15'N, 114°30'E, silty mud, 75 m, AT, coll. Shaozong WU, 10 December 1959;

Paratypes: SCS. (1) 1 spm, CN SIII 14B-75, 22 °15'N, 115°00'E, sandy silty clay, 42 m, AT, coll. Jingzuo QU, 13 July 1959; (2) 1 spm, CN SIII 11B-58, 19 °00'N, 111°00'E, silty clay, 62.4 m, AT, coll. Weiquan ZHANG; (3) 1 spm, CN R127B-37, 21 °15'N, 112°30'E, silty clay, 44.5 m, BT, coll. Shoupeng SHEN, 5 February 1960.

Measurements (mm)

Description. Shell 15-26.5 mm in height; broadly fusiform, with tall spire, inflated body whorl and moderately short anterior canal, height of spire about equal to height of aperture plus canal. Whorls 13, convex, first 2 1/2 whorls form smooth rounded protoconch, carinate over last whorl. Postnuclear whorls angular, strongly convex, separated by linear, undulating suture, with strong subsutural rib; whorls with concave shoul- der area. Penultimate and body whorl with 12 oblique axial folds, axial folds commence abruptly at lower extremity of shoulder sulcus and fade out at lower suture; whole surface of shell covered regularly with rather strong, rounded spaced spiral ribs and fine lines between them, six spiral ribs on penultimate and 20 spiral ribs on body whorl. Aperture ovate, moderately long; outer lip broken, sinus unknown; inner lip with thin callus, columellar margin nearly straight. Anterior canal moderately short, straight and unnotched. Colour dull white, interior of aperture and parietal callus porcellanous-white.

Distribution. Only known in the SCS.

Etymology. “ parvus”, Latin, small, to refer to the shell of this species is smaller than that of C. fusiformis (Hutton, 1877).

Remarks. The new species is very similar to Comitas fusiformis (Hutton, 1877) in whorl profile and shell sculptures. The only morphological difference between them is that the spiral sculpture of C. parvifusiformis sp. nov. is stronger than that of C. fusiformis. Furthermore, C. fusiformis is from New Zealand, C. parvifusiformis is from the South China Sea.