Trochocochlea castriotae Bellini, 1903a: 23–24

Fasulo, Giuseppe, Duraccio, Sergio, Federico, Antonio & Crocetta, Fabio, 2019, The (almost) unknown Italian naturalist Raffaello Bellini (1874 - 1930): biography malacological publications, and status of his recent molluscan taxa, Zootaxa 4668 (3), pp. 343-369 : 351-352

Trochocochlea castriotae Bellini, 1903a: 23–24 , figs. 3a–b

( Fig. 3E )

Type locality: Mar Morto ( Miseno , Bacoli, Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) .

Original description: “nettamente distinta dalla precedente specie e facilmente riconoscibile per i giri turricolati e la sutura canalicolata. Caratteri dell’animale, grandezza e colorazione come nella T. turbinata , di cui non saprei ritenerla né una varietà, né un’alterazione” [clearly distinct from the previous species— Phorcus turbinatus (Born, 1778) , reported as Trochocochlea turbinata Brug. —due to the turriculated whorls and the canaliculate suture of the shell. Animal features, sizes, and color as in P. turbinatus , of which it— T. castriotae —is not a variety nor an aberration].

Remarks: considered a junior synonym of Gibbula albida ( Gmelin, 1791) by Crocetta et al. (2013), with whom we agree due to the shell characters shown in the figure alleged to its description ( Fig. 3E ). Trochocochlea castriotae was skipped by Bellini (1929a) in the general overview of the marine molluscan species living in the Gulf of Naples, presumably due to the fact that he encountered this taxon again during samplings held in 1926 in Lido di Venezia ( Italy), when he correctly labelled it as Gibbula (Magulus) biasoletti (Phil.) (MCCIC—drawer 189, not numbered), a junior synonym of G. albida (Molluscabase 2019b) ( Fig. 3F ). However, it is unclear why he did not even report it under this binomial name. Gibbula albida was found during early samplings held in Miseno (see Ghisotti 1974; Cretella et al. 1976), but not recently (2011–2018: authors’ unpublished data). It presumably did not survive the anthropogenic changes to which the area has been subjected in the last century. Alternatively, it may have been introduced with Adriatic oysters or mussels as already speculated for other records of this taxon in the western Mediterranean ( Ghisotti & Melone 1972), and then did not establish locally. However, we found no published traces and are not aware of any shellfish introduction in Miseno or the nearby lake (Miseno Lake) during past centuries.

Figures

FIGURE 3. A. Gibbula (Magulus) ardens var. acutispira. Original figure. B, C. Gibbula ardens. B. Shells from Mar Morto (Miseno, Bacoli). C. Original label handwritten by Bellini. MCCIC—drawer 145, not numbered. D. Gibbula umbilicaris var. acherusiae. Original figures. E. Trochocochlea castriotae. Original figures. F. Gibbula (Magulus) biasoletti. Shells from Lido di Venezia and original label handwritten by Bellini. MCCIC—drawer 189, not numbered.