Bull. not. Hist. Mus. Loud. (Zool.) 63(1): 51-53 



Issued 26 June 1997 



A new species of crassispirine gastropod from the 

 Houtman Abrolhos Islands, Western Australia 

 (Gastropoda, Conoidea, Crassispirinae) 



ALEXANDER V. SYSOEV 



Zoological Museum of Moscow State University, Herzen Street 6. Moscow 103009, Russia 



JOHN D. TAYLOR 



Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, U.K. 



SYNOPSIS. A new species of conoidean gastropod. Burchia spectabilis, is described from the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, 

 Western Australia. Although the wishbone-type radular teeth are similar to those of Inquisitor, the shell is unlike any Indo-Pacific 

 species and most similar to the West American genus Burchia. 



INTRODUCTION 



In this paper we describe an distinctive new species of crassispirine 

 gastropod dredged from around the Houtman Abrolhos Islands, 

 Western Australia. Unfortunately, we have only two specimens of 

 this species, one of which was serial sectioned to determine the 

 anatomy of the foregut which is described in the following paper 

 (Kantor. Medinskaya & Taylor 1997). 



SYSTEMATIC DESCRIPTION 



Family TURRIDAE H. & A. Adams, 1853 (1840) 

 Subfamily Crassispirinae McLean, 1971 



Burchia spectabilis Sysoev & Taylor, new species 



Figs 1-3 



TYPE MATERIAL. Holotype: Western Australian Museum, Perth, 

 WAM 123-9. Paratype: serial sections of the foregut. Natural His- 

 tory Museum, London. 



Type LOCALITY. Goss Passage, Wallabi Group, Houtman Abrolhos 

 Islands, Western Australia (Glover & Taylor, 1997: station 11), 

 28°28.64' S, 1 13°46.45' E, depth 41m, coarse sand and gravel. 



Diagnosis. Shell rather large and thick-walled, fusiform, with 

 high and many-whorled spire occupying about half of the shell 

 height. Shell colour pinkish white, with darker reddish-brown 

 siphonal canal and some interspaces between sculptural elements, 

 and blotches of the same colour on the subsutural ramp. Protoconch 

 consists of 1 .7 smooth whorls. Initial teleoconch whorls almost flat- 

 sided, then angulate at the periphery. Subsutural fold strong and 

 tuberculate. Subsutural ramp concave and devoid of axial sculpture. 

 Axial sculpture of numerous folds forming low and blunt tubercles 

 below the subsutural ramp. Folds usually branch towards the lower 

 suture. On last teleoconch whorls the folds become irregular. Spiral 

 sculpture of deeply incised and widely spaced grooves becoming 

 closer to each other on the canal. Aperture rather narrow. Siphonal 

 canal short and wide, with distinct notch. Parietal nodule moderately 



developed. Anal sinus deep, U-shaped, with the apex in the middle 

 of subsutural ramp. Operculum large and thick, oval, with a terminal 

 nucleus. Radula of wishbone marginal teeth only, teeth rather nar- 

 row, with moderately wide accessory limb. 



Description of holotype. The shell is rather large, strong, 

 fusiform, with high spire comprising 0.47 of the shell height. The 

 ground shell colour is pinkish-white, with pale brownish spiral band 

 just below the body whorl periphery, reddish-brown siphonal canal 

 and the lower part of the shell base, and some interspaces between 

 sculptural elements, and occasional blotches of the same colour on 

 the subsutural ramp. The periostracum is poorly developed over the 

 entire shell except for the lower part of the shell base and the canal. 

 The protoconch is rather pupiform and consists of 1 .7 smooth glossy 

 whorls with shallow suture. The border between protoconch and 

 teleoconch is not clearly defined. The teleoconch consists of 10 

 whorls separated by rather shallow and slightly wavy sutures. Initial 

 teleoconch whorls are almost flat, then a peripheral angulation 

 appears, which becomes stronger towards the body whorL The 

 subsutural fold is well developed and tuberculate. The subsutural 

 ramp is rather deeply concave. The whole shell surface is wrinkled 

 by numerous rough growth lines. The axial sculpture consists of 

 numerous folds beginning below the subsutural ramp and forming 

 wide, low and blunt tubercles. Below the tubercles, the folds usually 

 branch into two or three narrower folds separated by narrow 

 interspaces. Sometimes additional folds appear below the row of 

 tubercles and widen towards the lower suture. On the body whorl the 

 folds become even more irregular and of varying width; they may 

 branch or merge along their length. The folds reach the siphonal 

 canal. There are 13 tubercles below the subsutural ramp on the 

 penultimate whorl, and about 18 on the body. The spiral sculpture is 

 represented by incised and widely spaced narrow grooves. There is 

 one such groove below the suture, 4-5 more crowded on the subsutural 

 ramp, and 3 below it on teleoconch whorls. On the body whorl, there 

 are 3 grooves below the subsutural ramp and, after a very wide 

 interspace at the periphery, 3 grooves on the shell base followed 

 by 1 5 closely spaced ones on the canal . The last quarter of the body 

 whorl is marked by a strong and wide varix, which has no clearly 

 defined borders and looks more like a longitudinal swelling. 

 The aperture is rather narrow, more or less uniform in width, 

 including the short and wide canal with a distinct notch. The 

 columellar part of aperture is almost straight and covered with a 



© The Natural History Museum, 1997 



