Vesicomya galatheae (Knudsen, 1970)

Wiklund, Helena, Taylor, John D., Dahlgren, Thomas G., Todt, Christiane, Ikebe, Chiho, Rabone, Muriel & Glover, Adrian G., 2017, Abyssal fauna of the UK- 1 polymetallic nodule exploration area, Clarion-Clipperton Zone, central Pacific Ocean: Mollusca, ZooKeys 707, pp. 1-46 : 5-6

Vesicomya galatheae (Knudsen, 1970)

Material examined.

NHM_143 NHMUK 20170040, collected 2013-10-11, 13.75833 -116.69852, 4080 m. http://data.nhm.ac.uk/object/c609ed0c-f881-44c9-a6a0-3e36f0934997

NHM_255 NHMUK 20170041, collected 2013-10-17, 13.75583 -116.48667, 4076 m. http://data.nhm.ac.uk/object/314ef160-7cfa-4705-b091-640c3e69ad1a

NHM_260 NHMUK 20170042.1-2, collected 2013-10-17, 13.75583 -116.48667, 4076 m. http://data.nhm.ac.uk/object/3add2560-71c1-4879-afb8-0a5ed1449c89

Description.

Small, inflated sub-spherical. Sculpture of fine closely spaced low commarginal lamellae. Right valve with two cardinal teeth, posterior long, thin, anterior tooth small and short (Fig. 4). Specimen NHM_143 length 1.4 mm, height 1.2 mm.

Genetic data.

GenBank NHM_143 18S-MF157474; NHM_255 16S-MF157460, 18S-MF157487, COI-MF157509; NHM_260 18S-MF157488, COI-MF157510.

Remarks.

Vesicomya galatheae was described from off Costa Rica and Panama at 2950- 3570 m. Morphologically similar to Vesicomya pacifica (Smith, 1885) holotype NHMUK 1887.2.9.2710-11 but Krylova et al. (2015) regard this as a northern Pacific species distinguished from V. galatheae by the shape, hinge teeth and number of siphonal tentacles. When comparing sequences from our CCZ specimens with the Vesicomya pacifica from Krylova et al. (2015), the K2P difference is 0.11. In the molecular tree (Fig. 5) it groups with a Kelliella species from the northwestern Atlantic and these two species form a sister clade to Calyptogena species. Kelliella species are very similar to Vesicomya and the relationships of species assigned to the two genera need clarification. Forms a unique monophyletic clade distinct from all other AB01 specimens. No genetic matches on GenBank.

Ecology.

Found in polymetallic nodule province.