DEEP-SEA CONOIDEAN GASTROPODS 



reasonable to refrain from formal description of a new species 

 based on a single young shell. 



Distribution. Zanzibar, 1207-1463 m. 



Subfamily COCHLESPIRINAE Powell, 1942 

 Genus COCHLESPIRA Conrad, 1865 



Type species: Pleurotoma cristata Conrad, 1847 (monotypy) 



Cochlespira travancorica (E.A.Smith, 1896) 



Fig. 25 



Pleurotoma (Ancistrosyrinx) travancorica E.A.Smith, 1896, p. 



368; 1906, p. 163; Alcock & Anderson, 1898, pi. 7, figs 1, la. 

 Pleurotoma (Ancistrosyrinx) travancorica var. granulata 



E.A.Smith, 1904, p. 459. 

 Ancistrosyrinx travancorica var. granulata (E.A.Smith) - 



Schepman, 1913, p. 420. 

 Cochlespira travancorica travancorica (E.A.Smith) & C. 



travancorica travancorica forma granulata (E.A.Smith) - 



Powell, 1969, p. 396-397, pi. 307. 



Type locality, off Travancore (India), 460 fms (travancorica), 

 'Investigator', stn 229, 360 fms (var. granulata). 



Material, stn 107, 1 shell. 



The JME specimen was determined and described by Powell 

 ( 1 969: 396-397) as C. travancorica travancorica forma granulata. 

 However this specimen differs from the latter variety (in 

 accordance with both original and Schepman's (1913: 420) 

 descriptions) in the absence of granules on the spiral ribs of the 

 shell base and subsutural slope. The only character in common 

 with the variety granulata, is the presence of weak spiral ribs on 

 the subsutural slope. At the same time, these differences are 

 taxonomically insignificant since the variety granulata, as it was 

 mentioned by Powell, apparently does not warrant even a 

 subspecific status and represents a form of intraspecific 

 variability (this, in particular, makes superfluous the recognition 

 of the nominotypical subspecies by Powell (1969: 396)). 



Distribution. East Africa, India, Indonesia, 338-743 m. 



Cochlespira zanzibarica Sysoev, new species 



Figs 23 & 24 



Material, stn 1 19, 1 shell (holotype, No. 1993091). 



Description. The shell is small, light-brown, with glossy 

 surface, rather solid, fusiform, consisting of 6.5 preserved 

 whorls. The protoconch is missing and the upper whorls are 

 heavily eroded. The whorls are angled below the periphery and 

 concave upper and below the angulation; the position of the 

 angulation on the spire whorls shifts upward towards the body 

 whorl. The sutures are straight and very shallowly impressed. 

 The sculpture consists only of a strong median keel with 

 rounded, pointed tubercles (16 on the body and penultimate 



whorls) and a low ridge on the upper part of the shell base. The 

 ridge is hard to trace above the suture on last spire whorls. The 

 growth lines are very thin. The shell base is angled in its upper 

 part, where the ridge is situated, and slightly and evenly concave 

 below the angulation; it smoothly passes into the canal. The 

 aperture is narrow, with the inner lip weakly and evenly curved. 

 The anal sinus is broad and moderately deep, with the apex 

 situated in the middle of subsutural slope. The canal is straight 

 and rather short (the end is apparently slightly broken). H = 

 16.9, Hb = 10.2, Ha = 7.6, D = 6.9 mm. 



The new species obviously belongs to the 'semiplana group' 

 sensu Powell, 1969 which includes two fossil and two Recent 

 deep-water species and is characterized by the presence of a 

 strong basal keel. The new species differs from all known species 

 of the group by the complete absence of spiral sculpture on the 

 shell base, except for low ridge and in its more stout shell with 

 rather short canal. It is also similar to species of the genus 

 Chesasyrinx Petuch, 1988 known from Miocene of Maryland, 

 USA. Although Petuch (1988: p. 38-39) did not compare 

 Chesasyrinx with Cochlespira in the original description, the 

 striking similarity of shells of Chesasyrinx and 'semiplana 

 group' of Cochlespira may be reason for synonymizing these 

 genera. 



Distribution. Zanzibar area, 1207-1463 m. 



Genus COM/7"^5Finlay, 1926 



Type species: Drillia fusiformis Hutton, 1877 (= Surcula huttoni 

 Suter, 1914) (original designation) 



Comitas subsuturalis (von Martens, 1902) 



Figs 31-40 



Pleurotoma ( Brachytoma) subsuturalis von Martens, 1902, p. 



239. 

 Brachytoma subsuturalis (von Martens) — von Martens, 1903 



[1904], p. 85, pi. 1, fig. 7. 

 Comitas subsuturalis (von Martens) — Powell, 1969, p. 285, pi. 



226, figs 3^. 



Type locality. 'Valdivia', stn 256, off Somali, 1 134 m. 



Material, stn 33, 3 specimens and 4 shells; stn 34, 1 specimen 

 and 8 shells; stn 118, 1 specimen and 1 shell; stn 143, 9 

 specimens; stn 145, 2 specimens; stn 184, 7 specimens and 1 shell; 

 stn 193, 3 shells. 



Examination of the large series of JME specimens revealed very 

 a high variability of C. subsuturalis in sculpture and shell 

 proportions. Some specimens are very similar to the original 

 illustration of von Martens (e.g. Figs 37, 38) whilst others, often 

 from the same station, may differ in narrower (or, conversely, 

 broader) shells with more or less high position of peripheral 

 keel, variously differentiated spiral ribs on the shell base, and 

 more or less prominent and numerous tubercles on subsutural 

 fold. The largest JME shell is 32.4 mm in height and 12.0 mm in 

 width. 



Figs 18-30 Clavusidae, Clavatulinae and Cochlespirinae. 18, 19 - Drillia altispira Sysoev, new species, holotype; 20, 21 - Horaiclavus splendidus (A. 

 Adams, 1 867), stn 1 88 (20) and 1 76 (21), H = 32.4 (20) and 32.8 (21) mm; 22 - Splendrillia zanzibarica Sysoev, new species, holotype; 23, 24 - Coch- 

 lespira zanzibarica Sysoev, new species, holotype; 25 - Cochlespira travancorica (E.A. Smith, 1896), stn 107, H = 19.1 mm; 26, 30- Turricula new 

 species, stn 1 19, H = 21 .0 mm; 27 - Comitas elegans Sysoev, new species, holotype; 28 - Leucosyrinx claviforma (Kosuge, 1992), stn 1 58, H = 28.0 

 mm; 29 - Comitas curviplicata Sysoev, new species, holotype. 



