Chicoreus (Siratus) pliciferoides Kuroda, 1942

Houart, Roland & Héros, Virginie, 2008, Muricidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Fiji and Tonga, Mémoires du Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle 196, pp. 437-480 : 446

Chicoreus (Siratus) pliciferoides Kuroda, 1942

Fig. 2A

Murex pliciferus Sowerby, 1841 (non Bivona-Bernardi, 1832).

Chicoreus pliciferoides Kuroda, 1942: 81 .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Fiji. MUSORSTOM 10: stn CP 1325, 1 dd juv; stn CP 1501, 18°40’S, 178°30’W, 350-357 m, 1 lv, 1 17°16’S, 177°50’E, 282-322 m, 1 lv (Fig. 2A); stn CP 1326, dd .

17°14’S, 177°50’E, 265-300 m, 1 lv; stn CP 1389, 18°19’S, Tonga. BORDAU 2: stn CP 1562, 19°52’S, 174°42’W, 417-424 178°05’E, 241-417 m, 1 lv . — BORDAU 1: stn CP 1427, 17°16’S, m, 1 dd; stn CH 1563, 19°52’S, 174°39’W, 362-388 m, 4 lv; stn 179°01’W, 364-369 m, 1 lv; stn DW 1440, 17°11’S, 178°43’W, CH 1564, 19°52’S, 174°39’W, 371-387 m, 1 dd .

190-308 m, 1 lv; stn DW 1465, 18°09’S, 178°39’W, 290-300 m,

DISTRIBUTION. — Southeastern and central Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Western Australia, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Tonga and Fiji (new records), live in 300-364 m.

REMARKS. — These new records are not unexpected, considering the planktotrophic larval development of the species. Other reports will probably confirm its distribution throughout the central Pacific and probably in other localities of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The shell is large, reaching a maximum length of almost 150 mm; it is broad, heavy and spiny. A number of synonyms, not listed here, are based on the variable morphological characters of the shell, such as breadth of the last whorl, length of the siphonal canal and thickness of varices.