A systematic approach to the genus Buccinanops d?Orbigny, 1841 (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from the South American coast

PASTORINO, G.; SIMONE, L. R.

Rio de Janeiro

Congreso; XI International Congress on Medical and Applied Malacology; 2012

Sociedade Brasileira de Malacologia

The genus Buccinanops was introduced by A. d?Orbigny as a subgenus of Buccinum and considered as a member of the family Buccinidae. Geographic range of Buccinanops spans the state of Espírito Santo (Brazil) to Tierra del Fuego Island at the southernmost tip of the American continent. Being an endemic genus, Southwestern America is the geographic region with the highest abundance of recent species belonging to it. A number of phylogenetic hypotheses affirmed that the South African genera Bullia and Dorsanum have a common evolutionary history with Buccinanops. Shell characters are highly variable in species of these genera and ? together with their widespread geographical range ? have brought about the description of a large number of nominal species. Most works on the systematics of Buccinanops have been based on shell morphology. Herein we present the results of studies on the systematics of this genus based on detailed anatomy and shell morphology of all described forms including types and topotypical material. According these studies, this genus includes only six valid extant species and probably two fossil representatives from Neogene deposits in Argentina. We establish the diagnostic characters of each species together with their known geographic range. The type species of each of the genera into which Buccinanops species were previously included were compared, and we conclude that Dorsanum and Bullia are close related but not living nowadays in South American waters.