Limatula subauriculata Montagu, 1808

Negri, Mauro Pietro & Corselli, Cesare, 2016, Bathyal Mollusca from the cold-water coral biotope of Santa Maria di Leuca (Apulian margin, southern Italy), Zootaxa 4186 (1), pp. 1-97 : 32

Limatula subauriculata Montagu, 1808

Fig. 6 k–m

Pecten subauriculata [sic] Montagu, 1808 (p. 63, pl. 29, fig. 2).

Lima subauriculata Montagu—Jeffreys 1879 (p. 564); Hidalgo 1917 (p. 387).

Lima (Limatula) subauriculata (Montagu)— Tebble 1966 (p. 68, text-figs. 28a–b); Di Geronimo & Panetta 1973 (p. 101, pl. 3, fig. 9).

Limatula subauriculata subauriculata ( Montagu, 1808) — Nordsieck 1969 (p. 57, pl. 9, figs. 36.10–36.11).

Limatula subauriculata ( Montagu, 1808) — Barash & Danin 1992 (p. 258, fig. 275); Cossignani et al. 1992 (fig. 299); Poppe & Goto 1993 (p. 77, pl. 12, fig. 8); Giannuzzi-Savelli et al. 2001 (p. 222, fig. 466); Repetto et al. 2005 (p. 304, bottom left fig); Beck et al. 2006 (p. 102, mid fig); Oliver et al. 2016 (online resource).

Diagnostic characters. High, oval, and almost equilateral shell; fan-shaped ligamental pit; even radial riblets; distinct median radial furrow on the right valve; strong median rib on the left valve. Prodissoconch: shell type ST- 2D; length about 120 µm; roundish D-shaped outline; convex profile; surface almost smooth; P-2 replaced by narrow shell lip; transition to the nepioconch well marked.

Occurrence. Box-corer samples BC05 (6 specimens), BC11 (1), BC66 (6), BC67 (4), BC71 (6), BC72 (71); cores BC04 (2), BC05 (6), BC21 (14), BC51 (6), BC67 (5), BC72 (20). Maximum height: 6 mm.

Distribution and habitat. Limatula subauriculata is distributed from Greenland to the Gulf of Mexico, the Canaries and the Mediterranean; it thrives on muddy sand to sandy gravel bottoms in a wide bathymetric range, from shallow infralittoral to about 3200 m depth ( Tebble 1966; Nordsieck 1969; Barash & Danin 1992; Poppe & Goto 1993; Pons-Moyà & Pons 1999; Oliver et al. 2016). Mastrototaro et al. (2010) recorded the species already in the Santa Maria di Leuca CWC biotope.

Fossil record. Miocene to Recent ( Monegatti & Raffi 2001); Pliocene of Italy ( Monterosato 1872; Tabanelli 2008); Pleistocene of Calabria ( Barrier et al. 1987) and Sardinia ( Di Geronimo & Bellagamba 1985).

Figures

FIGURE 6. a – c: Spondylus gussonii Costa, 1830; LV, samples BC 11 (a – b) and BC 71 (c), scale bars: 5 mm (a – b), 0.1 mm (c, prodissoconch); d – g: Heteranomia squamula (Linnaeus, 1758); LV, samples BC 11 (d – e) and BC 72 (f – g), scale bars: 5 mm (d – e), 0.5 mm (f, juvenile), 0.1 mm (g, prodissoconch); h – j: Limaria loscombi (Sowerby G. B. I, 1823); RV, sample BC 72, scale bars: 2 mm (h – i), 0.1 mm (j, prodissoconch); k – m: Limatula subauriculata Montagu, 1808; RV (k, m) and LV (l), samples BC 71 (k, m) and BC 72 (l), scale bars: 1 mm (k – l), 0.1 mm (m, prodissoconch); n – p: Limea crassa (Forbes, 1844); RV (o) and LV (n, p), samples BC 71 (n, p) and BC 72 (o), scale bars: 1 mm (n – o), 0.1 mm (p, prodissoconch).