Pterynotus marshalli Houart, 1989

Houart, Roland & Héros, Virginie, 2008, Muricidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Fiji and Tonga, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 196, pp. 437-480 : 447-448

Pterynotus marshalli Houart, 1989

Fig. 2D

Pterynotus marshalli Houart, 1989: 273 , figs 1-1a, 7-9.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Tonga. BORDAU 2: stn DW 1521, 21°19’S, 175°01’W, 225-233 m, 1 dd (damaged); stn DW 1535, 21°43’S, 175°18’W, 268 m, 1 dd (damaged) (Fig. 2D) .

DISTRIBUTION. — Off Norfolk Island (holotype), live in 225-308 m, and now Tonga (new record), shells in 233- 268 m.

REMARKS. — The shells from Tonga are damaged and collected dead but are still identifiable. They have more slender whorls and a higher spire than the holotype, but are otherwise similar to it. The last teleoconch whorl bears 3 wide, thin and fragile, wing-like varices. It resembles Pterynotus bednalli (Brazier, 1878) but differs in the ornamentation of the first teleoconch whorls. Pterynotus bednalli bears 6 or 7 thin axial lamellae on the first and second whorls, and 3 lamellae from the third whorl onwards. Pterynotus marshalli bears 3 thin varices and a small lamellate ridge on its first whorl, and from its second whorl onwards has 3 thin varices and a small axial ridge. Pterynotus bednalli also has more numerous secondary and tertiary spiral cords on its last teleoconch whorl.