Notocrater Finlay, 1926

Lima, Silvio Felipe Barbosa, 2014, Notocrater christofferseni n. sp. (Vetigastropoda: Pseudococculinidae): first record of the genus in the South Atlantic Ocean, Zootaxa 3873 (2), pp. 178-186 : 179

Genus Notocrater Finlay, 1926

Type species. Cocculina craticulata Suter, 1908 by original designation. Recent, New Zealand ( Marshall 1986).

Characterization. Shell small (SL: 1.30 to 3.75 mm; SW: 1.00 to 3.15 mm; SH: 0.60 to 1.80 mm), thin, translucent white or white; outline in dorsal view elongate-oval to elliptical; anterior region moderately to highly arched, occupying 68 to 100% of shell length; edge usually thin, sharp. Apex subcentral to posterior of center. Protoconch (PL: 167 to 233 µm; PW: 92.67 to 133 µm), barely to well below highest point of shell, subcentral to well posterior of center (may be vertically very close the posterior edge), with posterior margin slightly to well embedded in posterior slope of teleoconch; surface completely smooth or sculptured with low, fine, dense, irregularly scattered to clumped crystals, some forming crisp, anastomosing threads or surface completely covered with anastomosing threads; apical fold long and narrow, gradually tapering, tip rather fused, suture at folding axis narrow, very slightly sinuous to curved, moderately deep. Teleoconch at first sculptured with fine, rather crisp, straight to slightly wavy, well-spaced, concentric riblets/bands and fine, close interstitial radial striae/threads. At a shell length of 0.7 to 2.4 mm, radial striae/threads either vanish or gradually increase in strength; riblets/bands become irregular and resolve into fine, crisp, regularly spaced, roughly quadrate, elliptical, elongate or hemispherical granules/pustules which are irregularly to evenly spaced and arranged concentrically in curving rows. Arcuate radial threads and concentric sculpture may form diagonally reticulate pattern. In most species, fine, crowded collabral growth striae/threads throughout surface. Anterior slope approximately straight to moderately convex. Anterior end slightly narrowed to broadly rounded. Posterior slope moderate to steep, usually flat (straight) to shallowly concave. Lateral slopes approximately flat (subparallel) to slightly convex. Aperture moderately to broadly elongate-oval to elliptical (in ventral view), planar or shallowly concave (in lateral view). See Marshall (1986), Haszprunar (1988, 1998) and McLean & Harasewych (1995) for information on the anatomy and radula of Notocrater .