Polygona bernadensis
Creators: name: Lyons, William G.
name: Snyder, Martin Avery
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2019
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Neogastropoda
Fasciolariidae
Polygona
Polygona bernadensis

description: Polygona bernadensis (Bullock, 1974)
(Figures 27–28)
? Latirus infundibulum: Horst & Schepman, 1894: 93; Kempf & Matthews, 1968: 93; Altena, 1969: 12; Rios, 1970: 96; Altena, 1975: 55; Lyons, 1991: 201 (pars; Rios 1985 report from Brazil possibly based on L. bernadensis; figured shell not much resembling L. infundibulum); Matthews-Cascon et al., 1991: 1 (Brazil); Díaz, 1995: 118 (pars; Orinoco Delta to Guiana and Suriname); Capelo & Buitrago, 1998: 132 (pars; eastern Venezuela; reported from Puerto La Cruz and Guayana); Massemin et al., 2000: 21 (Guyane; depth <30 m); Rios, 2009: 252, figs. (pars; senior synonym of L. bernadensis; Brazilian occurrence; 2–50 m; shell of unstated origin figured, = P. infundibulum);? non L. infundibulum = Polygona infundibulum (Gmelin, 1791), Florida, Texas and Caribbean Sea.
Latirus (Polygona) bernadensis Bullock, 1974: 72 –74, 76, 77, fig. 13; Rios, 1975: 104, pl. 29, fig. 437; Lyons, 1991: 198; Snyder, 2003: 49; Rios, 2009: 252.
Latirus brevicaudatus: Altena, 1975: 55 (Suriname); non L. brevicaudatus = Polygona brevicaudata (Reeve, 1847), Recent, northern Caribbean region.
? Latirus (Polygona) infundibulum: Rios, 1975: 104, pl. 29, fig. 438 (pars; Suriname and Brazil, sandy, rocky and broken shell bottoms; 6 stations, 30–55 m; dimensions 40 x 15 x 14 mm); Rios, 1985: 106, 107 (pars; Suriname); Rios, 1994: 133 (pars; Suriname);? non P. infundibulum (Gmelin, 1791).
Latirus bernadensis: Petuch, 1979: 520, 521, fig. 3C; Rios, 1985: 107; Petuch, 1987: 90, 122, 123, pl. 18, fig. 1; Lyons, 1991: 200, 201; Matthews-Cascon et al., 1991: 1; Díaz & Puyana, 1994: 196; Rios, 1994: 133; K. & L. Sunderland, 1996: 16, 2 figs.; Mallard & Robin, 2005: pl. 41 (pars; right figured shell only, from French Guiana); Massemin et al., 2009: 153, 156 (Barbados, Suriname and French Guiana; figured shell from French Guiana); Rios, 2009: 252; Daccarett & Bossio, 2011: 101; non L. bernadensis Mallard & Robin (2005: pl. 41), left figured shell from Brazil = Polygona bayeri (Petuch, 2001).
? Lathyrus infundibulum: de Oliveira et al., 1981: 215 (Salvador, Bahía, Brazil).
Latirus infundibulum: Okutani in Takeda & Okutani, 1983: 280, figs. (Suriname; depth to 64 m); non P. infundibulum (Gmelin, 1791), eastern Florida, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.
Polygona bernadensis: Vermeij & Snyder, 2006: 418 –420, fig. 3I; Mallard & Robin, 2017: 270, figs. 1–3 (size 35–60 mm; depth 0–10 m; range: Barbados and Venezuela to Ceará, Brazil; 3 figured shells from Venezuela, “West Indies” and French Guiana).
Types. Holotype: 44.2 mm, Barbados, Lesser Antilles, MCZ 2754282. Paratypes: 2, 36.7 and 36.4 mm, both from type locality, MCZ 275429 (Bullock 1974: 72, 77, fig. 13).
Material examined. French Guiana —3-lv, 35.5 (IM-2013-50690), 35.9 (IM-2012-20352) and 39.6 mm (IM- 2013-50677), 1-dd, 39.0 mm, GUYANE sta. CP 4353, 05°12.4’N, 51°40.2’W, 60 m, 28 Jul 2014; 1-lv, 17.1 mm, GUYANE sta. CP 4355, 06°17.2’N, 53°07.4’W, 50 m, 30 Jul 2014; 1-lv, 22.1 mm (IM-2013-56567), GUYANE sta. CP 4384, 05°51’N, 52°30’W, 50–51 m; 1-lv, 23.5 mm, GUYANE sta. CP 4385, 05°45.5’N, 52°31.4’W, 48 m, 0 5 Aug 2014; 3-lv, 31.0, 32.2 (IM-2013-56597) and 36.5 mm (IM-2013-56598), GUYANE sta. CP 4386, 05°38.4’N, 52°20.2’W, 46–47 m, 0 5 Aug 2013; 4-lv, 44.2, 44.1, 39.5 and 21.3 mm, 1-dd, 46.8 mm, GUYANE sta. CP 4402, 06°18’N, 52°13.3’W, 95–97 m, 0 8 Aug 2014; 1-lv, 36.3 mm (IM-2013-56853), GUYANE sta. CP 4408, 05°37’N, 52°10’W, 57 m; 1-lv, 29.3mm, 1-dd, 42.4 mm (IM-2012-20356), GUYANE sta. SR-23 (Île Saint-Joseph), 05°16.8’N, 52°34.9’W, 6–10 m, 0 4 Oct 2014; 1-lv, 14.0 mm, G0 sta. 3, 05°00.9’N, 51°81.1’W, 60 m, 16 Apr 1999; 1-dd, 35.4 mm, G0 sta. 11. 05°12.8’N, 51°17.4’W, 66–70 m, 18 Apr 1999; 3-dd, 41.0, 45.7 and 52.9 mm, G0 sta. 17, 05°06.3’N, 51°43.7’W, 70 m, 19 Apr 1999; 2-dd, 37.3 and 42.. 6 mm, “Guyane Française,” 60–80 m, 1998, DL; 1-dd, 39.3 mm, off French Guiana, 60 m, 2000, ANSP 465700; 1-dd, 41.3 mm, off French Guiana, 2002, 60– 80 m, ANSP 465701. Barbados —1-dd, 45.4 mm, off Barbados, 1986, ANSP 465699. Venezuela —1-lv, 61.3 mm, Isla Morro Pelotas, 25.9 m, Aug 1993, LC. Trinidad and Tobago —1-lv, 64.6 mm, Chacachacare Island, Trinidad, 7.9 m, 4/1997, LC; 2-lv, 64.4 and 43.4 mm, off Crown Point, Tobago, 29.0 m, 6/1995, LC; 1-lv, 51.8 mm, Pigeon Point, Tobago, 21.3–24.4 m, LC; 1-lv, 42.2 mm, Store Bay, Tobago, 29.3 m, 1/1999, LC; 1-lv, 70.2 mm, Store Bay, 14.0 m, 2/1999, LC; 1-lv, 39.8 mm, Tobago, 24.4 m, 1995, LC.
Remarks. Polygona bernadensis, the most frequently encountered peristerniine in GUYANE collections, was represented by 18 specimens from eight stations, depth range 6–118 m; another 5 specimens from three stations were present in the GREEN 0 material. The latter were collected in depths of 60–80 m, as were four others we examined from French Guiana. The French Guiana specimens ranged in size from 14.0 to 52.9 mm, all smaller than some shells (61.3–70.2 mm) we examined from Trinidad, Tobago and Venezuela.
Specimens of P. bernadensis from French Guiana are morphologically variable, some having slender shells with relatively tall spires and others with somewhat shorter spires and more swollen body whorls. Most, however, are good matches for the figured holotype (Bullock 1974: fig. 13), and the variant shells merge with more typical specimens, prompting us to treat them as a single species. Mallard and Robin (2005; 2017) and Massemin et al. (2009) figured as Latirus bernadensis an unusual shell from French Guiana; its size was cited as 56.4 mm in the first report, 56.8 mm in the second report and 56 mm in the last. The shell differs from typical P. bernadensis by having a relatively shorter, broader siphonal process and more rounded spire whorls; axial ribs are broader, more numerous and, as a consequence, more closely spaced, with narrower intercostal areas; spiral cords are larger, more numerous, and separated by single smaller cords or threads; and cords crossing intercostal areas are more prominent and abundant. We were unable to locate this specimen, but we suspect that it represents an extreme within a continuum of morphological variability within the species.
Some authors (e.g. Rios 1985, 1994, 2009; Díaz & Puyana 1994; Daccarett & Bossio 2011) have treated Polygona bernadensis as a junior synonym of P. infundibulum, but P. bernadensis differs from P. infundibulum by having a relatively stouter shell with broader axial ribs and without contrasting brown on the stronger spiral cords (Bullock 1974: 77). Most reports of P. infundibulum from the Guianas (e.g. Okutani 1983) and northern Brazil seem to have been errors for P. bernadensis but some may be errors for P. lactea (Matthews-Cascon, et al. 1991) (discussed later).
description: Published as part of Lyons, William G. & Snyder, Martin Avery, 2019, Fasciolariidae (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda) of French Guiana and nearby regions, with descriptions of two new species and comments on marine zoogeography of northeastern South America, pp. 239-268 in Zootaxa 4585 (2) on pages 258-259, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4585.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/2637300