Cyphoma aureocinctum (Dall, 1889) (Gastropoda: Ovulidae) in the Canary Islands, with notes on the type material and type locality

New information about the habitat and distribution of the rare, medium deep-water Atlantic ovulid Cyphoma aureocinctum (Dall, 1889) in the Canary Islands is provided, and the spawn of this species is described and illustrated. Living specimens were found on the antipatharian Antipathella wollastoni (Gray, 1857), between 25-40 m in depth, and in shrimp fishing pots between 100-180 m. The shell of fully and not fully grown specimens is described and compared with that of the lectotype, an additional W. Atlantic specimen and the closely related Cyphoma eludens Lorenz & Brown, 2015, from St. Helena Island. The colour pattern of the mantle and head-foot in the living animal is similar in specimens from the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, and also similar to that of C. eludens. The spawn consists of transparent egg capsules of more or less rounded cushion-like shape, arranged in lines along dead branches of the black coral and contain some hundred eggs, embryos or larvae. The distribution, habitat and some taxonomical issues of this still poorly known species are discussed.

The revision of the type material of Cyphoma aureocinctum has resulted in no syntypes being found of this species in collections of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, and only one syntype found in the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, which is designated as lectotype. The first locality given in the original description for C. aureocinctum (“off Sombrero”) is discussed, concluding that it is a locality in Florida, not in the West Indies.