E. F. Garcia 
Novapex 12(3-4): 99-107, 10 octobre 2011 
Two new species of Epitonium (Gastropoda: Epitoniidae) 
from the western Atlantic 
Emilio F. GARCIA 
115 Oak Crest Dr. 
Lafayette, LA 70503 
Efg21 12@louisiana.edu 
KEYWORDS. Gulf of Mexico, Florida, Puerto Rico, taxonomy, Epitoniidae, Epitonium n. spp. 
ABSTRACT. Two new Epitonium species from eastem Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and Puerto 
Rico are described and compared with similar congeners. Spécial attention is given to E. 
championi Clench & Turner, 1952, the most similar to the two proposed new taxa. 
INTRODUCTION 
In June, 2005, faculty members and graduate 
student in the Biology Department at the University of 
Louisiana, Lafayette went on a research expédition to 
Bahia de Campeche. Southern Gulf of Mexico, on 
board the R/V Pélican, a research vessel operated by 
the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium 
(LUMCON). Results of this expédition hâve been 
reported elsewhere (Garcia, 2006, 2007, 2008a, 
2008b, 2008c). This area of the Gulf, located in the 
Southwest quadrant, lias been poorly sampled. The 
single campaign in 2005 increased the known 
diversity of the area from 575 to 674, that is by 17% 
(Rosenberg et al., 2009: 584). 
Among the interesting material dredged in 120 
hauls in Bahia de Campeche, there was an epitoniid 
species, collected at only two consecutive stations. 
Although there hâve been 56 species of Epitoniidae 
recorded from the Gulf of Mexico (Rosenberg et al, 
2009: 583), the Campeche specimens defied 
identification. The species looked similar to 
Epitonium championi Clench & Turner, 1952, a taxon 
that had been erroneously reported from the Gull of 
Mexico (Garcia & Lee, 2002:11; Rosenberg et al., 
2010: 641); however, upon close inspection of the 
holotype of E. championi and other type material, 
important différences came to light. Moreover, after 
studying other epitoniids from the Gulf and elsewhere, 
rnostly from the Harry G. Lee collection, a second 
undescribed species was revealed that had been 
hitherto identified as E. championi and E. turritellula. 
This was a very surprising fmd, as the species inhabits 
a large area, at least from Texas and Louisiana to 
Sanibel Island, northeast Florida and Puerto Rico. 
This study proposes two new Epitonium taxa and 
scrutinizes them against their most similar congener, 
E. championi , as well as other less- likely congeneric 
taxa. 
Abbreviations 
BMSM: Bailey- Matthews Shell Muséum, Sanibel, 
Florida, USA. 
EFG: author’s collection. 
HGL: Harry G. Lee collection, Jacksonville, Florida, 
USA. 
HMNS: Houston Muséum of Natural Science, 
Houston, Texas, USA. 
LACM: Los Angeles County Natural History 
Muséum, Los Angeles, California, USA. 
MCZ: Muséum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, 
Massachusetts, USA. 
SBMNH: Santa Barbara Muséum of Natural History, 
Santa Barbara, California, USA. 
UNAM: Universidad Nacional Autônoma de México, 
Ciudad México,México. 
USNM: United States National Muséum, Washington, 
D.C., USA. 
spec: specimen(s). 
SYSTEMATICS 
Family EPITONIIDAE S. S. Berry, 1910 
Genus Epitonium Rôding, 1798 
Type species: Turbo scalaris Linnaeus, 1758 by 
subséquent désignation by Suter (1913). 
Epitonium championi Clench & Turner, 1952 
Figs 1-12, Table I 
Material examined. Holotype MCZ 182900 length 
11.5 mm, width 4.6 mm, Massachusetts, Cape Cod, 
Hyannis, Lewis Bay (Figs 1-5); 3 paratypes, MCZ 
162585 Massachusetts, Martha’s Vineyard, Gay Head 
(see Figs 6 and 7) ; 6 spec.; Emerald I., North 
Carolina, 34°40T’N 77°0’49”W (HMNS 47485); 
Stone Harbor, New Jersey, 39°02’8”N 74°46’03”W 
(HMNS 47484) (Fig. 9), 1 spec.; Florida, Duval 
County, off Big Talbot I., 10-20 m (see Figs 10 to 12) 
(HGL); 2 spec., Florida, Duval County, S.Jacksonville 
Beach (see Fig. 8) (HGL); 1 spec., Florida, Duval 
County, Fort George(HGL). 
Distribution. South coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts 
to Duval County, NE Florida. 
Original description. “ Shell reaching about 14 m 
(1/2 inch in length, attenuate, imperforate, rather solid 
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