THE MITRIDAE, COSTELLARIDAE AND 
NASSARIIDAE (MOLLUSCA: GASTROPODA) 
RECENTLY DREDGED AT REUNION ISLAND, 
INDIAN OCEAN, 
WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES 
W. O. CERNOHORSKY 
AUCKLAND INSTITUTE AND MUSEUM 
Abstract. Species of the families Mitridae, Costellariidae and Nassarlidae 
obtained from waters around Reunion Island are enumerated. Mitra (Nebularia) 
boucheti and Nassarius (Zeuxis) reunionensis are described as new species, and 
Vexillum (Costellaria) albatum is proposed as a substitute name for the 
homonymous Turricula casta H.Adams, 1872, and Mitra hastata Sowerby, 1874. 
The Miocene fossil species Nassarius dijki (K.Martin, 1895) is reported as still 
living in deep water around Reunion Island. 
Dr P. Bouchet, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, has kindly made 
available to me molluscan material of the families Mitridae, Costellariidae and 
Nassariidae for examination and report. This material was collected by Dr’s P. 
Bouchet, B. Métivier and A. Warén during cruise 32 of the R.V. “Marion-Dufresne” 
during 1982 to Reunion I, S.W. Indian Ocean. The material contained new 
geographical records, new species and a “living fossil” species. All the material 
examined is housed in the Malacology section of the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle, 
Paris, France. 
The list of species contains the generic, subgeneric and specific name, author and 
date, Station No., lattitude and longitude, depth in metres and number of specimens 
in brackets. There is also a supplementary list of Reunion I Mitridae and 
Costellariidae collected by J. Drivas and M. Jay, and how housed in the Museum 
National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris. 
Molluscan material of the family Muricidae obtained during the “Marion- 
Dufresne” cruise 32 has been reported on by Houart (1985a,b) and of the family 
Buccinidae by Bouchet & Warén (1986). 
Family MITRIDAE 
Genus Mitra Lamarck, 1798 
Mitra Lamarck, 1798, Tabl.Encycl.Méth. pl.369. Type species by tautonomy Voluta mitra 
Linnaeus, 1758. Recent, Indo-Pacific. (Opinion 885 of ICZN). 
Rec. Auckland Inst. Mus.25: 75-85 19 December 1988 
