A review of the Atlantic-Mediterranean Bursa scrobilator (Linnaeus, 1758) species complex

ABSTRACT

The Atlantic-Mediterranean Bursa scrobilator (Linnaeus, 1758) complex is represented by three morphologically distinct forms, two that are extant corresponding to the nominal taxa Murex scrobilator Linnaeus, 1758 and Ranella coriacea Reeve, 1844, and one fossil corresponding to Murex nodosus Borson, 1825. The complex is here reviewed integrating morphological, molecular (mitochondrial COI marker) and paleontological data. The ‘scrobilator’ and ‘coriacea’ forms are proposed as two subspecies: Bursa scrobilator scrobilator (Linnaeus, 1758) with an Atlantic-Mediterranean distribution, and Bursa scrobilator coriacea (Reeve, 1844) with a West African range. The evolutionary relationships of the two recent subspecies with their most probable ancestor, the Mediterranean Miocene fossil B. nodosa, are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Bursa scrobilator scrobilator
• Bursa scrobilator coriacea
• Bursa nodosa
• recent
• fossil
• Mediterranean Sea
• Atlantic Ocean

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to the personnel of the Muséum national D’Histoire naturelle (Paris, France) and we would like to thank Philippe Bouchet for allowing us to analyse museum materials, Virginie Héros for the invaluable technical support, Nicolas Puillandre and Malcom Sander for providing specimens, photographs, and data from Campagne ‘Dakar’09’. We are thankful to the personnel of The Linnean Society of London (London, UK) for the permission to use the original images from their Online Collections. We thank the staff of The Natural History Museum (London, UK), in particular Andreia Salvador for research and the photographs of type material. We thank the Regional Museum of Natural Sciences of Turin (Turin, Italy), and in particular Daniele Ormezzano for technical support and the photographs of type material. We would like to acknowledge the Museum of Zoology of Bologna (collection of the Laboratory of Malacology, University of Bologna), and in particular Antonio Bonfitto for having made available important comparison materials. Many thanks to Francesca Tuccio and Giovanni Pesaresi, diving holders of the ‘Terraferma’ di Linosa (Agrigento, Italy) for their underwater technical support. Sincere acknowledgments go to Riccardo Delle Fratte (Rome, Italy), Alfonso Pascucci (Lerici, La Spezia, Italy) and Maurizio Forli (Prato, Italy), for examining specimens from their private collections. Sincere thanks to Giulio Pavia (Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Torino, Italy) and to Cesare Tabanelli (Cotignola, Ravenna, Italy) for bibliographic help. A special thanks to Jakov Prkić (Split, Croatia) for providing important bibliographical data on Brusina's collection. We acknowledge Paola Di Luzio (Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, U. O. Musei Scientifici e Planetario - Museo Civico di Zoologia, Rome, Italy) for her invaluable help in tracking down rare books and to Lavinia Iazzetti (Biblioteca Accademia delle Scienze, Torino, Italy) for their bibliographic support. We are indebted to Mary Lombardi for the revision of the English text. The authors wish to thank Marco Olivero (University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy) for critical reading of the text, and the referees Alan Beu and Malcolm T. Sanders, as well as the editor Bruce Marshall, for reviewing the manuscript and greatly helping to improve it.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Giulia Furfaro http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8184-2266

Paolo Mariottini http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1044-7108

Additional information

Funding

Financial funding by the University of Roma Tre to G.F. (Ph.D. school contribution 2017) and P.M. (contribution to the laboratory - CAL/2018) is acknowledged.