Tellimya tehuelcha new species: first record of Tellimya Brown, 1827 in South America (Bivalvia: Montacutidae), with notes on life history and reproduction

ZELAYA, D. G. Y C. ITUARTE

MALACOLOGIA

INST MALACOL

Lugar: Philadelphia; Año: 2011 vol. 55 p. 111 - 222

0076-2997

Tellimya tehuelcha, a new species from the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean is described. The species, living as epibiont on the irregular echinoid Abatus cavernosus, is characterised by the high trapezoidal shell outline, inflated, sculptured only with well-marked growth lines, and large protoconch (about 700 mm diameter). The hinge has a short anterior cardinal tooth in the right valve. The gill comprises a single demibranch at each side with up to 50 filaments with long adfrontal portions, the latter sometimes anastomosed. Tellimya tehuelcha is a simultaneous hermaphrodite, the female tissues are predominant and occupy the larger portion of the gonadal volume in specimens larger than 2.2 mm length. Eggs and embryos are incubated within the branchial space, being released as juveniles. The new species described here represents the first record of the genus Tellimya in South America.