Viriola cf. bayani Jousseaume, 1884

Albano, Paolo G., Steger, Jan, Bakker, Piet A. J., Bogi, Cesare, Bosnjak, Marija, Guy-Haim, Tamar, Huseyinoglu, Mehmet Fatih, LaFollette, Patrick I., Lubinevsky, Hadas, Mulas, Martina, Stockinger, Martina, Azzarone, Michele & Sabelli, Bruno, 2021, Numerous new records of tropical non-indigenous species in the Eastern Mediterranean highlight the challenges of their recognition and identification, ZooKeys 1010, pp. 1-95 : 1

Viriola cf. bayani Jousseaume, 1884

New records.

Israel • 3 spcms; Ashqelon; 31.6868°N, 34.5516°E; depth 11 m; 31 Oct. 2018; offshore rocky reef; suction sampler; HELM project (samples S58_1M, S58_2F, S58_2M) • 3 spcms; off Tel Aviv Marina; 32.0871°N, 34.7635°E; depth 7 m; 8 Nov. 2018; rocky reef, suction sampler; HELM project (sample S67_1M) • 7 spcms; west of Rosh HaNikra Islands; 33.0704°N, 35.0926°E; depth 12 m; rocky substrate; suction sampler; 29 Oct. 2018; HELM project (samples S52_1M, S52_3F) • 1 spcm; west of Rosh HaNikra Islands; 33.0725°N, 35.0923°E; depth 20 m; 1 May 2018; rocky substrate; suction sampler; HELM project (sample S13_3M) • 9 spcms; same collecting data as for preceding; depth 19 m; 29 Oct. 2018; HELM project (samples S53_1M, S53_2F, S53_2M, S53_3F, S53_3M); size of largest specimen: H 11.6 mm, W 2.7 mm.

Remarks.

This species was first recorded from Israel by Steger et al. (2018) based on three living individuals from Palmachim, southern Israel. We here report multiple living individuals all along the Israeli coast, confirming its establishment. The species shows a broad distribution in the Eastern Mediterranean ranging from Greece to Turkey and Cyprus ( Micali et al. 2017; Stamouli et al. 2017; Angelidis and Polyzoulis 2018; Chartosia et al. 2018). Its final taxonomic assignment requires the clarification of the relation between several other Viriola such as V. corrugata (Hinds, 1843), V. senafirensis (Sturany, 1903), and V. tricincta (Dunker, 1882) ( Albano and Bakker 2016; Albano et al. 2017, 2019).