Notes on Recent and fossil Neritidae, 23. A record of Smaragdia abakionigraphis Drivas & Jay, 1989, from Indonesia

2 Pages·1993·0.3 MB·English

by  Mienis, Henk K

BASTERIA, 57: 199-200, 1993
Notes onRecent and fossil Neritidae, 23.
A record ofSmaragdia abakionigraphis Drivas &Jay, 1989,
from Indonesia
Henk+K. Mienis
Dept.ofEvolution, Systematicsand Ecology,Hebrew University ofJerusalem,91904Jerusalem,Israel
SmaragdiaabakionigraphisDrivas & Jay, 1989, originally described from Réunion Is., western
Indian Ocean,is here reportedfrom dredgedmaterial fromTelukDjakarta,Java,Indonesia.
Key words: Gastropoda, Prosobranchia,Neritidae,Smaragdia,distribution,Indonesia
Untilrecently, two species ofthe genusSmaragdia Issel, 1869(Neritidae), wereknown
to occur in the waters neartheislandofReunionin thewestern IndianOcean,,viz., S.
rangiana (Recluz, 1841) (as S. viridisauct., see Mienis, 1991) and S. souverbiana(Mon-
trouzier, 1863)(Viader, 1937: 100). Bothspecies areinhabitantsofeelgrass meadowsin
shallowwater.
Several years ago a third species was describedfrom Reunion as S.abakionigraphis
Drivas &Jay, 1989.Itwasfound inrelatively less shallowwaterat depthsofbetween24
and54 m. A sample of three or four specimens I had studiedsome 25 yearsago in the
collection ofL.J.M. Butot was immediately recognized as conspecific with this new
species. Thissample had been dredged by J.D.F.Hardenberg (dredge no. 7A 1/2b) in
TelukJakarta (Baai van Batavia), Java, Indonesia; no date was given. One shell was
separated from the lot and transferred to my private collection of Neritidae (HM
21045). In the mean time the collection of Butot was donated to the Institute for
Taxonomic Zoology/Zoological Museum, Amsterdam; however, so far the sample
underdiscussion could notbe located in that collection.
Thesingle remaining shellmeasures: heigth 3.0mm, width3.0mm. Its characteristic
colourpattern,consisting ofrectangular brownishblotches, agreescompletely withthe
original description.
The discovery ofS. abakionigraphis inIndonesia, some 6000km eastofReunion,might
be an indicationthat it has a lengthy pelagic stage in its larval development, like all
otherspecies ofSmaragdia.
In the nearfuture the shelldiscussed here will also be transferred(together withthe
major part of my Neritidae collection) to the Institute of Taxonomic Zoology in
Amsterdam.I should liketo thankMr. L.J.M. Butot(Bilthoven) for having allowed me
to study the Neritidaein his collection.
1 For Noteson Recentand fossilNeritidae, 22,seePallidula22(1), 1992.
200 BASTERIA, Vol. 57,No. 4-6, 1993
REFERENCES
DRIVAS,J.,&M.JAY, 1989.Descriptionsofnewmollusks fromReunionIsland — I.Neritidae,Cassidaeand
Costellariidae.—Venus48: 245-249.
MIENIS, H.K., 1991. Notes on recentand fossil Neritidae,21. The statusofTanzaniellaLupu, 1979. —
Soosiana 19: 13-15.
VIADER,B., 1937. Revisedcatalogueofthe testaceousMolluscaofMauritiusanditsdependencies.—Maur,
Inst. Bull. 1 (2):III-XIII, 1-111.