Phos Montfort, 1810

Fraussen, Koen, Galindo, Lee Ann & Rosado, José, 2020, Deep-water Photinae (Gastropoda: Nassariidae) from eastern Africa, with descriptions of five new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 720, pp. 144-169 : 146

Genus Phos Montfort, 1810

Phos Montfort, 1810: 484–486 .

Type species

Murex senticosus Linnaeus, 1758 , by original designation (Tropical Indo-West Pacific).

Remarks

The Photinae were recently the subject of a profound taxonomic revision ( Galindo et al. 2016). Molecular data prove that all species belonging to Phos Montfort, 1810 represent a monophyletic group occuring exclusively in the Indo-West Pacific, distinct from the Carribean Antillophos Woodring, 1928 (see Galindo et al. 2016: 343, fig. 1, 345, fig. 2, 348, fig. 3). It is typical that genera within Nassariidae are geographically restricted clades, while the biogeographic range of genera is usually broader in Buccinidae . The generic separation within Photinae based on sculpture and protoconch morphology, as discussed by Fraussen & Poppe (2005: 76–77, 81–82), no longer holds. As a result, Phos senticosus , with a smooth protoconch, is congeneric with other Indo-West Pacific species that have a characteristically sculptured protoconch and that were formerly placed in Antillophos . For a discussion about the taxonomic positions of Phos and Antillophos within Nassariidae , we refer to Galindo et al. (2016).