Dear Marlo,

Perhaps the bathyal-hadal habitat (419 to 2160
m.) excludes Cerithiopsis martensii Dall, 1889
(not 1881 as in Abbott, 1974) from Common and
Scientific Names ...  My copy is out on loan so I
cannot see the inclusion criteria. The binomen is certainly available.

The issue of generic placement of this taxon is a
good topic for discussion. I have just examined
my solitary specimen of Cerithiopsis martensii.
It was taken at a depth of 1764 m. some distance
off Savannah, GA by the RV Oregon in 1986. Unlike
the shell figured in Dall's description (his
solitary specimen), mine has a perfect protoconch
of about one whorl. It is actually larger than
the earliest teleoconch whorl. This is certainly
not at all like any Cerithiopsis (s. l.) in the
western Atlantic, but it isn't much unlike that
of Cerithiella whiteavesii (Verrill, 1880) later
figured by Verrill (1882) and Abbott (1974).
Furthermore, the quite similar sculpture,
siphonal canal, and smooth base suggest the two
are congeneric. Authorities have placed C.
whiteavesii in the synonymy of Cerithium metula
Lovén, 1846, the type species of Cerithiella
Verrill, 1882, and I think it quite reasonable,
as did Abbott (1974), to call move the Dall
species from Cerithiopsis to Cerithiella.

Where Cerithiella fits into the grand scheme is
another matter. Another not greatly dissimilar
shallower-occurring bathyal species, Cerithiopsis
crystallina Dall, 1881, is discussed on the page
(1889: 254) preceding that of C. martensii.
Houbrick (1987) looked closely at the shell
(including the smooth multispiral protoconch),
operculum, soft anatomy and radula of this rather
common species and placed it in the genus
Varicopeza Gründel, 1976, the type of which is
the Indo-West Pacific Cerithidea pauxilla A.
Adams, 1854. Furthermore, Varicopeza belongs in
the family Cerithiidae, not Cerithiopsidae! I
wouldn't be surprised if Cerithiella is
eventually moved from Cerithiopsidae to another
family. In fact there is a name awaiting,
Cerithiellidae Golikov & Starobogatov, 1975.

Just to emphasize the polyphyly of Dall's
Cerithiopsis, let me mention C. sigsbeana Dall,
1881, a discussion of which is sandwiched between
the C. crystallina passage and that the original
description of C. martensii. Of C. s. Dall
lamented "the difficulty of getting a
characteristic drawing of so minute an object
from an unscientific artist is very great."
Indeed! Shells under my microscope present a
feature (not mentioned by Dall) not seen in any
cerithiopsid I know - a columellar plait that
runs well into the aperture for at least the
better part of a whorl. The species also has the
bulbous protoconch of Cerithiella martensii
(Dall, 1889), which lacks the plait and has a
very different shape and sculpture. A fine kettle
of fish: Cerithiella martensii (Dall, 1889)
[Cerithiellidae ?], Varicopeza crystallina (Dall,
1881) [Cerithiidae], and "Cerithiopsis" sigsbeana (Dall, 1881) [???]!

Harry

Abbott, R. T., 1974.  American seashells. Second
edition. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, pp.
1-663 incl. numerous text figs. + 24 pls.

Dall, W. H., 1881.  Reports on the results of
dredging, under the supervision of Alexander
Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the
Caribbean Sea, 1877-79, by the United States
Coast Survey Steamer “Blake,”
Lieutenant-Commander C. D. Sigsbee, U. S. N., and
Commander J. R. Bartlett, U. S. N., commanding.
XV. Preliminary report on the Mollusca. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 9(2): 33-144.

Dall, W. H., 1889.  Reports on the results of
dredging, under the supervision of Alexander
Agassiz, in the Gulf of Mexico (1877-78) and in
the Caribbean Sea (1879-80), by the by the U. S.
Coast Survey Steamer “Blake,” Lieut.-Commander C.
D. Sigsbee, U. S. N., and Commander J. R.
Bartlett, U. S. N., commanding. XXIX. Report on
the Mollusca. Part 2, Gastropoda and Scaphopoda.
Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 18: 1-492 + pls. 10-40. June.

Golikov, A. N. and Y. I. Starobogatov, 1975.
Systematics of prosobranch gastropods. Malacologia 15: 185-232.

Houbrick, R.S., 1987. Transfer of Cerithiopsis
crystallina Dall to the genus Varicopeza Gründel,
family Cerithiidae (Prosobranchia: Gastropoda). The Nautilus 101(2):80-85.


At 09:01 PM 6/12/2006, you wrote:

>I’ve found Cerithiella in the The Academy of
>Natural Sciences of Philadelphia database listed
>under Cerithiopsidae.  It is not listed at all
>in Common and Scientific Names of Aquatic
>Invertibrates from the United States and
>Canada:  Mollusks, 2nd Ed., 1998, American
>Fisheries Society Special Publication.  I’ve
>found it listed in several places under
>Triforidae.  And, in one place under
>Cerithiidae.  Can anyone help me understand
>Cerithiella, and in particular, is Cerithiopsis
>martensii Dall, 1881 [or Cerithiella martensii (Dall, 1881)] a valid name?
Marlo
Harry G. Lee, M. D.
4132 Ortega Forest Dr.
Jacksonville, FL 32210 USA
voice (904) 389 4049
email: [log in to unmask]
look at www.jaxshells.org

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