E. Rolân, R. Fernândez-Garcés, C. Redfern 
Novapex 13(2): 45-62, 10 juin 2012 
New records and description of four new species of the genus Agathotoma 
(Gastropoda, Mangeliidae) in the Caribbean 
Emilio ROLÂN 
Museo de Historia Natural, 
Campus Universitario Sur, 15782 
Santiago de Compostela, Spain 
Raül FERNÂNDEZ-GARCÉS 
Centro de Estudios Ambientales (CEAC), 
Division de Gestion Ambiental (DGA), 
calle 17, esquina Ave 46, Cienfuegos, Cuba 
Colin REDFERN 
7475 Estrella Circle, 
Boca Raton, Fia. 33433, USA 
KEYWORDS. Gastropoda, Mangeliidae, Agathotoma , Caribbean, new records, new species 
ABSTRACT. The species collected in the Caribbean and supposedly belonging to the genus Agathotoma 
are revised. Some new records are reported and four species new to science are described. 
RESUMEN. Se revisan las species recolectadas en el Caribe y supuestamente pertenecientes al género 
Agathotoma. Se refieren algunas citas nuevas y se describen cuatro especies nuevas parta la ciencia. 
INTRODUCTION 
The genus Agathotoma Cossmann, 1899 was 
discussed by Powell (1966), who provided a 
description defining ail the characters of the genus. He 
also listed the type species and gave examples of 
fossil and Recent species. 
In a recent paper (Fernândez-Garcés & Rolân, 2010) 
it is mentioned that in the révision of the Turridae by 
Powell (1966), 561 taxa names at genus or subgenus 
level are mentioned, from which 89 are in 
Mangeliinae. More recently new généra hâve been 
described, but unfortunately these descriptions are 
based on minimal morphological characters with no 
reference to soft parts, radula, DNA or the most 
important characters. In our opinion it is inadvisable 
to create new généra without first undertaking the 
broader studies that are necessary to give stability and 
future permanence to these new taxa. Expérience 
indicates that families with many généra based on 
minimal morphological characters will hâve to be 
restructured in the future, creating many synonyms 
and causing many changes. 
In West Africa there are also species which hâve 
been considered to belong to the genus Agathotoma as 
well as to the genus Pyrgocythara Woodring, 1928 
(see Rolân & Otero-Schmitt, 1999). The latter genus 
has been employed for some species recently 
described (Fernândez-Garcés & Rolân, 2010). 
For the above-mentioned reasons we will présent ail 
the species studied in this paper in a well-established 
genus, avoiding the use of other more recently 
described généra, for which we do not hâve complété 
information. 
Abbreviations 
ANSP: Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 
BMSM: Bailey-Matthews Shell Muséum, Sanibel, 
Florida. 
IES: Instituto de Ecologia, La Habana 
MCZ: Muséum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard. 
MNCN: Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, 
Madrid. 
MHNS: Museo de Historia Natural, Santiago de 
Compostela. 
MNHN: Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris. 
NHMUK: National History Muséum United 
Kingdom, London. 
USNM: National Muséum of Natural History, 
Washington. 
CCR: collection of Colin Redfern, Boca Raton, 
Florida. 
CDK: collection of David Kirsh, Durham, North 
Carolina. 
CFG: collection of Fernândez-Garcés, Cienfuegos. 
sp: specimen with soft parts, 
s: shell. 
f: fragment, 
j: juvénile. 
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