Integrative taxonomy reveals new Australian species of the deep-water snail genera Comispira (Conoidea: Cochlespiridae) and Leucosyrinx (Conoidea: Pseudomelatomidae)

ABSTRACT

A series of deep-sea expeditions in southeastern Australia has produced a considerable amount of conoidean (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda) material suitable for molecular and morpho-anatomical study. Previous and ongoing studies have revealed the Raphitomidae to be particularly diverse in the deep waters of this region. Here, we continue our conoidean investigation, focussing on the genera Comispira (Cochlespiridae) and Leucosyrinx (Pseudomelatomidae). We subjected two cytochrome oxidase subunit DNA sequence datasets of Conoidea to Automatic Barcode Gap Discovery (ABGD), which recognised a total of 18 primary species hypotheses (PSHs) among our target genera as well as from the cochlespirid genera Sibogasyrinx and Aforia. Following additional evaluation of shell and radular features, as well as examination of geographic and bathymetric ranges (conducted for PSHs of Australian waters), eight of these PSHs were converted to secondary species hypotheses (SSHs). Of these, three SSHs (one Comispira species, two Leucosyrinx spp.) were recognised as new to science and their full systematic descriptions are provided herein. While we discuss the relatively low diversity of Cochlespiridae compared to most conoidean families, two Comispira species and one species of Aforia are here recorded for the first time from Australian waters.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:0D342202-1901-4379-9EA8-6E7C1A4AAD7B

KEYWORDS:

• Shell
• radula
• deep sea
• mtDNA
• species delimitation
• biodiversity

Acknowledgements

This work has been made possible through financial support from the Australian Government (ABRS grant RF217–57, principal investigator FC). Voyages in the GAB were part of: (a) the GAB Research Program [GABRP – a collaboration between BP, CSIRO, the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI), the University of Adelaide and Flinders University] and (b) the GAB Deepwater Marine Program (GABDMP – a CSIRO led research program sponsored by Chevron Australia). Funding for the ‘Eastern Abyss’ voyage (IN2017_V03) was provided by the Marine Biodiversity Hub (MBH), supported through the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program (NESP). The ‘Tasmanian seamounts’ voyage (IN2018_V06) was sponsored by the CSIRO Marine National Facility (MNF), the NESP MBH and Parks Australia. The authors wish to thank the CSIRO MNF for its support in the form of sea time onboard, support personnel, scientific equipment and data management. We also thank the scientific staff and crew who participated in all voyages generating the samples studied herein. We would also like to express our gratitude to Mandy Reid, Alison Miller and Jennifer Caiza (AMS) for assistance with the registration and databasing of material and to Bastian Brenzinger (ZSM, Munich), Andrea Crowther (SAMA, Adelaide), Simon Grove and Kirrily Moore (TMAG, Hobart) for smoothly and promptly handling our loan requests. Jeroen Goud and Bram van der Bijl (NCBN, Leiden), Kazunori Hasegawa (NSMT, Tokyo), Andreia Salvador (NHMUK, London) and Corey Whisson (WAM, Perth) are thanked for producing and providing shell photographs of some of the types examined here. We thank Dr Anna Neretina (IEE RAS) for assisting with SEM work. The study was conducted using the Joint Usage Center «Instrumental methods in ecology» at the IEE RAS. Thanks are also due to Annie Reynolds and the language team (Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, Hobart) for assistance with forming the name of L. truwalamuka. We are grateful to an anonymous referee, to Dr Alexander Fedosov, Dr Bruce Marshall and Dr Don Colgan, for their review of and comments on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Australian Biological Resources Study [grant number RF217-57] awarded to FC (PI) and AH (JI).