52 



A. V. SYSOEV AND J.D. TAYLOR 



Fig. 1 Burchia spectabilis Sysoev & Taylor. Holotype. Shell height 36.9 mm. 



Fig. 2 Holotype, lateral view 



Fig. 3 Burchia spectabilis, holotype, radula teeth. Scale bar = 20|im. 



thick, white callus. The parietal nodule is moderately developed. 

 The anal sinus is deep, U-shaped, broadly open, symmetrical, with 

 the apex in the middle of subsutural ramp. The operculum is large 

 and thick, oval, dark-brown, with a terminal nucleus, 7.2 x 3.2 mm. 

 Shell height is 36.9 mm, body whorl height 19.5 mm, aperture height 

 14.4 mm, and shell diameter 10.4 mm. Paratype: shell height 12.5 

 mm. 



Radula. The radula (Fig. 3) consists of two rows of wishbone 

 type marginal teeth only. The teeth are rather narrow, slightly curved 

 and sharply pointed, without barb or cutting edge. The accessory 

 limb is moderately large and attaches to the major limb about just 

 behind the tip. 



Anatomy. 

 (p. 81) 



The foregut anatomy is described in Kantor et al. 1997 



Remarks. On shell characters, it is difficult to assign this species 

 to any genus of Crassispirinae known from Western Australia and 

 the entire Indo-Pacific. Its radular teeth are very similar to those of 

 species of Inquisitor Hedley, 1918 (see Taylor & Wells, 1995). In 

 general shell outline the new species resembles some species in- 

 cluded by Wells ( 1 994) in the genus Inquisitor Hedley, 1918 namely 

 /. dampierius (Hedley, 1 922) and, to a lesser extent, /. odhneri Wells, 

 1994, but is readily distinguished from them (and from any known 



turrid species) by the peculiar character of the sculpture of branching 

 axial folds and widely spaced spiral grooves. However, the two latter 

 species are themselves not very similar to the type-species of 

 Inquisitor, I. sterrhus (Watson, 1881), and other typical representa- 

 tives of the genus, which are characterized by a slender shell with a 

 well differentiated and relatively long siphonal canal. Unfortunately, 

 the radular characters of /. dampierius and /. odhneri are unknown. 

 On the other hand, the radular and conchological characters of the 

 new species correspond quite well to those of Burchia Bartsch, 

 1944, a Central American subgenus of Crassispira Swainson, 1840. 

 The main feature distinguishing species of Burchia from the new 

 species, besides the unique sculpture of the latter, is the presence of 

 a thick periostracum. However, the character of periostracum is not 

 usually considered to be of taxonomic importance at the generic 

 level. Therefore, it seems reasonable under these circumstances to 

 place the new species, at least provisionally, into Burchia. 



Acknowledgements. This species was collected during the Interna- 

 tional Marine Biological Workshop on the Marine Fauna and Flora of the 

 Houtman Abolhos Islands. We are grateful to the organiser Dr Fred Wells of 

 the Western Australian Museum and the crew of the fisheries research vessesl 

 'Flinders' for facilities and logistic support. 



