Cryptopecten nux ( Reeve 1853 )

Raines, Bret & Huber, Markus, 2012, 3217, Zootaxa 3217, pp. 1-106 : 35

Cryptopecten nux ( Reeve 1853)

Figures 16 H–I

Pecten coruscans Reeve, 1853 : sp. 143, pl. 32, fig. 143, non Hinds, 1845.

Pecten nux Reeve, 1853 : errata page.

Cryptopecten nux ( Reeve 1853) — Raines & Poppe, 2006: p. 312, pl. 276; Raines, 2007: p. 82; Dijkstra & Maestrati, 2008: p. 109 ; Tröndlé & Boutet, 2009: p. 6; Dijkstra & Maestrati, 2010: p. 350 ; Huber, 2010: p. 203, fig. 11.

Material examined. Over a dozen single valves, including juveniles from EI (BK), plus specimens from Australia ( MHU), Marquesas Islands ( MHU), Okinawa (BK) and the Philippines ( MHU).

Diagnosis. Shell small, solid, globose and inequilateral; RV more convex than LV. Both valves with 16–19 ribs equally pronounced; LV sometimes ornamented with short squamae. Auricles very unequal. Coloration moderately variable from white to creamy background, with irregular reddish-brown or purplish markings.

Remarks. Cryptopecten nux was first recorded from Easter Island by Raines (2007). Its identification can sometimes be difficult and subadult specimens are often misidentified as C. bernardi ( Philippi, 1851) . However, the distribution of C. bernardi is restricted to the French Polynesian region, see Dijkstra (1991).

Habitat. Commonly found at many locations around EI, in sand, from 30–80 m.

Distribution. Cryptopecten nux has been widely reported throughout the Indo-Pacific to include southern and eastern Africa, the Red Sea, Oman, Seychelles, Andaman Islands, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, New Caledonia, northern and eastern Australia, Solomon Islands, Loyalty Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Marquesas Islands, Austral Islands, Lord Howe Island, and Easter Island. However, it is not known from the Hawaiian Islands, New Zealand or the Kermadec Islands— E4.