Roxania sp.

Valdés, Ángel, 2008, Deep-sea “ cephalaspidean ” heterobranchs (Gastropoda) from the tropical southwest Pacific, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 196, pp. 587-792 : 698-699

Roxania sp.

Figs 53D, 54

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Coral Sea. MUSORSTOM 5: stn 321, 980 m, 2 dd (Fig. 53D). — BIOGEOCAL: stn CP 260, 21°00’S, 21°20’S, 158°02’E, 1000 m, 1 dd. 166°58’E, 1820-1980 m, 1 dd. — BATHUS 3 : stn DW 794 , Mont Loyalty Ridge. BIOCAL: stn DW 80 , 20°32’S, 166°48’E, 900- J, 23°48’S, 169°49’E, 751-755 m, 3 dd .

DISTRIBUTION. — Only known from the Coral Sea and New Caledonia (Fig. 54), in 755-1820 m .

DESCRIPTION. — Shell morphology. Length 5 mm, width 3 mm (largest specimen examined). Shell solid, oval, with convex sides (Fig. 53D). Only 1 whorl visible, forming the entire shell. The protoconch is visible, but partially embedded within the outer whorl. Apex rounded, not umbilicate. The aperture lip rises slightly over the apex. Anterior end of the shell rounded. Aperture as long as the shell, wider anteriorly and narrowing gradually at about 1/2 of the aperture length. Columellar margin conspicuously thickened, with no distinct callus. Sculpture of several punctuated spiral grooves, more densely concentrated towards the anterior and posterior ends of the shell. Near the ends of the shell, the punctuations are larger and more densely arranged. Colour uniform cream.

Anatomy. Unknown. All shells collected lacked soft parts.

REMARKS. — The generic assignment of Roxania sp. is problematic. The general shell morphology resembles species of Sabatia , including the presence of a partially embedded protoconch, but it lacks the callus characteristic of this genus. It is here provisionally assigned to Roxania until complete specimens become available for anatomical examination.

Roxania sp. is clearly distinct from the other described species of the genus, but because of the lack of anatomical information it is not named here.