Scaphander nobilis Verrill 1884
Creators: name: Siegwald, Justine
name: Malaquias, Manuel António E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Cephalaspidea
Scaphandridae
Scaphander
Scaphander nobilis

description: Scaphander nobilis Verrill, 1884
(Figs 3–5; Table 2)
Scaphander nobilis Verrill, 1884: 209, 210, pl. 32, fig. 18a–d; Dall 1889a: 86; 1889b: 53, pl. 64, fig. 106; Pilsbry 1893: 249–250, pl. 32, figs 31, 32; Maury 1922: 49; Dall 1927: 26; Johnson 1934: 147; Clarke 1962: 40; Bouchet 1975: 335–336, fig. 7A–C, pl. 3, figs a–c, map 5; Eilertsen and Malaquias 2013a: 406, 408, 410, figs 2, 8, 15.
Scaphander (Bucconia) nobilis — Dall 1890a: 16–17, pl. 10, fig. 9; Thiele 1925: 319; Bullis 1956: 6, fig. 2A, B.
Bulla millepunctata Locard, 1897: 52–54, pl. 2, figs 3–6; Pallary 1912: 21.
Atys millepunctatus — Martens and Thiele 1903: 15, pl. 5, fig. 20.
Bulla (Bullocardia) millepunctata — Nordsieck 1972: 29, pl. P7, fig. 25.
Scaphander stigmatica Dall, 1927: 26.
Scaphander (Bucconia) stigmatica — Bullis 1956: 6, fig. 2D, E.
Scaphander stigmaticus — Marcus 1974: 334, figs 51–56.
Taxonomic history: Scaphander nobilis was described by Verrill (1884) based on shells from the Albatross expedition collected in Delaware Bay (Atlantic, USA). Locard (1897) described a similar species, Bulla millepunctata, from specimens sampled during the Talisman expedition off the Azores and coast of Sahara, which was reassigned by Martens and Thiele (1903) to the genus Atys. Dall (1927) described S. stigmatica based on Caribbean shells he had previously identified as S. nobilis (Dall 1889a, 1889b). Bouchet (1975) synonymized B. millepunctata and S. stigmatica with S. nobilis, which Eilertsen and Malaquias (2013a) confirmed in their study of the genus in the Atlantic.
Type material: Scaphander nobilis Verrill, 1884 — Northwestern Atlantic: Delaware Bay, Albatross Expedition, station 2102, 38°44'00"N, 72°38'00"W, 2211 m, holotype, USNM 35641, H = 34.2 mm, images seen (Fig. 2A). Bulla millepunctata Locard, 1897 — Northeastern Atlantic: north of the Azores, Talisman Expedition, station DR135, 43°15'00"N, 19°19'00"W, 4163 m, syntype MNHN-IM-2000-38367, H = 41 mm, images seen (Fig. 2C); west of the Sahara, Talisman Expedition, station DR76, 25°01'00"N, 16°55'00"W, 2638 m, syntype, MNHN-IM-2000-38276, H = 43 mm, images seen. Scaphander stigmatica Dall, 1927 — Caribbean: south of Cuba, Albatross Expedition, station 2127, 19°45'00"N, 75°04'00"W, 2997 m, holotype, USNM 95196, H = 35.4 mm, images seen (Fig. 2B).
Other material examined: Atlantic: Azores, one spc., sequenced, ZMBN 127875, H = 24 mm; Bay of Biscay, one spc., dissected, MNHN-IM-2019-11702, H = 27 mm; one spc., MNHN-IM-2019-11720, H = 27 mm; one spc., dissected, MNHN-IM-2009-29696, H = 39 mm; one spc., dissected, MNHN-IM-2016-5767, H = 40 mm. Indian Ocean: Walters Shoals, South Plain, one spc., dissected and sequenced, MNHN-IM-2013-67215, H = 23 mm; one sh., MNHN-IM-2013-67214, H = 15 mm.
Diagnosis: Shell ovoid, white. Spiral sculpture composed of round to sub-rectangular punctuations. Apex rounded. Posterior edge of outer lip rising above apex in sharp curved wing. Rachidian teeth sub-quadrate. Prostate round to club-shaped. Penial papilla narrow, covered with warts.
Shell (Fig. 4): Maximum H observed = 40 mm. Shell ovoid to elongated oval, only one whorl visible. Aperture wide, as long as shell, narrowing posteriorly. Spire concealed. Posterior edge of outer lip rising in sharp curved wing protruding well beyond apex. Parietal wall covered with slight, smooth white callus. Spiral sculpture composed of punctuated striations. Punctations round to sub-rectangular. Thin, translucent to pale yellow periostracum. Shell white.
Radula (Fig. 5A–C): Radular formula 20 × 1.1.1 (H = 40 mm). Lateral teeth curved, with fine denticulation on inner edge. Rachidian teeth sub-quadrate.
Digestive tract (Fig. 5D, E): Salivary glands medium long, surface uneven. Paired gizzard plates kidney-shaped to sub-triangular.
Male reproductive system (Fig. 5F, G): Penial chamber cylindrical, lined with soft longitudinal ridges near genital opening, with soft warts near prostatic duct entrance. Penial papilla long, narrow, covered with warts and wrinkles. Penial chamber separated from prostate by medium prostatic duct, narrowing towards prostate. Prostate round to club-shaped.
Ecology: Found between 1493 and 4255 m depth. Feeds on foraminifera, tubicolous polychaetes, and small gastropods (Eilertsen and Malaquias 2013a; present study).
Distribution (Fig. 3): Western Atlantic from Martha’s Vineyard, USA (Dall 1927), Gulf of Mexico (Bullis 1956), and from the Caribbean Sea to South Brazil (Marcus 1974). Eastern Atlantic from the Bay of Biscay, the Azores (Bouchet 1975), and the northwestern coast of Africa from the Canaries to Senegal (Locard 1897, Marcus 1974). Southwestern Indian Ocean, Walters Shoals (present study).
Remarks: Three specimens are labelled as syntypes for B. millepunctata at the Natural History Museum in Paris. However, examination of images of these specimens revealed that one of them (MNHN-IM-2000-27696) did not fit Locard (1897)’s description and illustration. The shell of this specimen instead has the apparent flat spire and inflated shape characteristic of S. imperceptus and expands the range of this species from Mauritania to north of the Azores (see Fig. 14).
As highlighted by Eilertsen and Malaquias (2013a) and discussed above, reports of Western Pacific species S. mundus in the Atlantic (Locard 1897, Pallary 1912, Marcus and Marcus 1966, Pequegnat 1983) should be considered misidentifications of S. nobilis. Another Western Pacific species, S. cornus, is remarkably similar to S. nobilis and has commonly been confused with S. mundus (Valdés 2008), which might explain those misidentifications. However, S. nobilis has a more elongated shell and a muscular penial papilla, whereas S. cornus has a rounder shell and lacks a penial papilla.
description: Published as part of Siegwald, Justine & Malaquias, Manuel António E., 2025, Bringing light into deep-sea biodiversity: a systematic revision and molecular phylogeny of the genus Scaphander Montfort, 1810 (Gastropoda: Cephalaspidea), with a focus on the Indo-Pacific, pp. 1-60 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 203 on pages 15-16, DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad201, http://zenodo.org/record/15006324