Hirtomurex nakamurai Kosuge, 1985

Lee, Sang-Hwa, Kil, Hyun-Jong & Park, Taeseo, 2016, First record of Hirtomurex nakamurai (Muricidae: Gastropoda) from Korean waters, Journal of Species Research 5 (3), pp. 530-532 : 531

Hirtomurex nakamurai Kosuge, 1985

ỄḀṆmÑ형üȂṉÑŀǟ (ṳḡ) ( Fig. 1 )

Hirtomurex nakamurai Kosuge, 1985: 45 , Pl. 16, figs. 1­2; Kosuge and Suzuki 1985: 26, Pl. 37; Wilson, 1994: 244-245, Pl. 7, fig. 13.

Babelomurex (Hirtomurex) nakamurai : Okutani, 2000: 408-409, Pl. 203, fig. 239.

Type locality. Tosa bay , Japan, about 150 m.

Material examined. 1 individual (NIBRIV0000659610), Jeju­do, Seogwipo­si, near Munseom (islet), July 29, 2015, collected by SCUBA diving at 25 m in depth .

Description. Shell small, thick and robust. Breadth 10 mm and 5/6 of shell length: body whorl inflated and 3/4 of total length; aperture oval and 1/2 of shell length. Whorls 5­6 with constricted suture, rounded shoulder and peripheries glossy white or pale yellow. Spire whorls low, strong axial costae crossed by spiral costae, apex light pink. Aperture auriform, posterior end rounded and internal color white; outer lip shallowly concave, edge finely plicae; inner lip straightly downwards. Columella callus thick and aslant curved. Siphonal canal moderately short and open.

Habitat. In coral at subtidal zone.

Distribution. Australia, Vietnam, China, Japan, and Korea.

Remarks. Hirtomurex species have high intraspecific morphological variations ( Oliverio and Gofas, 2006) with similar characteristics (e.g., body color, shape, aperture figure, and shell size etc., Okutani, 2000). Espe­ cially, H. nakamurai closely resembles H. isshikiensis ( Shikama, 1971) in morphological features. In spite of high resemblance of shell figures, these two species have a few differences in their morphological characteristics. Both species have similar body color of white affilia­ tion with fine spiral ribs on the body whorl. However, H. nakamurai differs from H. isshikiensis in the proportion of the body length and breadth. H. nakamurai breadth is 5/6 of total length. On the other hand, H. isshikiensis breadth is 2/3 of the whole body length. In addition, H. isshikiensis has scaly shoulder spines whereas H. nakamurai does not.

Figures

Fig. 1. Hirtomurex nakamurai Kosuge, 1985. A. Ventral view; B. Dorsal view. Scale bar: 5 mm.