Benthonella Dall 1889
Creators: name: Amati, Bruno
name: Giulio, Andrea Di
name: Oliverio, Marco
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Littorinimorpha
Rissoidae
Benthonella

description: Genus Benthonella Dall, 1889
Benthonella Dall, 1889: 281.
TYPE SPECIES. — Benthonella gaza Dall, 1889: 282, currently Benthonella tenella (Jeffreys, 1869), by original designation.
DIAGNOSIS. — Shell of small to medium size for the family, with transparent, colourless teleoconch; axial sculpture present, and spiral sculpture, when present, only on the base; protoconch multispiral with a low spire, finely keeled and coloured.
Pallial tentacles, eyes and posterior gland lacking.
REMARKS
Most of the species have both axial and spiral sculptures on the teleoconch and a slightly thickened labial varix, followed by a fragile and sharp edge, usually preserved intact only in freshly collected specimens. The umbilicus may be open, broad or narrow, or closed; sometimes the columellar lip may be expanded over the umbilical area, producing a false umbilical chink. For the description of the soft parts see Ponder (1985: 63) based on B. tenella, who addressed a very peculiar sperm duct opening to the kidney, and a possible renal copulation.We could not examine material of Benthonella =? loriei Weisbord,1962, which is described as paucispiral (Weisbord 1962: 129-130, pl. 46: figs 7-8, pl. 47: 6-7), and if confirmed, would represent the only known specie of Benthonella with non-planktotrophic development.
Some deep-water taxa, mostly described under the genus Rissoa Desmarest, 1814, actually belong to Benthonella. For instance, Rissoa olangoensis Poppe, Tagaro & Stahlschmidt, 2015 from Philippines, off Olango Island in the Mactan Channel in front of Baring, 130 m depth, clearly belongs to Benthonella (see Poppe et al. 2015: 24, pl. 8, figs 1-3). It has, like the type species, a blunt, coloured protoconch with two peripheral keels and therefore, we propose Benthonella olangoensis (Poppe, Tagaro & Stahlschmidt, 2015) as a new combination.
Pusillina kazakhstanica Amitrov, 2010 from the Oligocene of Kazakhstan, also belongs to Benthonella. Very similar to Benthonella lutetiana Lozouet, 2014 and to Benthonella priabonica Lozouet, 2014, it essentially differs from both species for the presence on the protoconch of a thin median spiral keel vs 2 well spaced (one subsutural, the other suprasutural) in B. lutetiana and B. priabonica. Furthermore, the subsutural thickening of the axial ribs is stronger in B. lutetiana and B. priabonica. We propose Benthonella kazakhstanica (Amitrov, 2010) as a new combination.
Hasegawa (2005) reported two distinct undescribed species belonging to Benthonella (as “ Alvania sp. ”and “ Benthonella sp. ” – Hasegawa 2005: 149, fig. 5I; 149, figs K, L).
We have found three species of Benthonella in French Polynesia, all undescribed: Benthonella boucheti n. sp., Benthonella basistriata n. sp., Benthonella communis n. sp.
description: Published as part of Amati, Bruno, Giulio, Andrea Di & Oliverio, Marco, 2022, Deep-water Rissoidae of the genera Benthonella Dall, 1889 and Benthonellania Lozouet, 1990 (Gastropoda, Caenogastropoda, Rissooidea) from French Polynesia, pp. 335-389 in Zoosystema 44 (12) on page 338, DOI: 10.5252/zoosystema2022v44a12, http://zenodo.org/record/6794846