Cribrarula gravida Moretzsohn 2002

A new species of Cribrarula (Gastropoda: Cypraeidae) from New South Wales, Australia
Fabio MORETZSOHN (USA) Zootaxa 85: 1-16 (21 October 2002)

This taxon was introduced by Fabio Moretzsohn on the basis of a single specimen in the Australian Museum of Sydney. In the description, the author gives a very comprehensive morphometrical analysis and also records anatomical details that distinguish this taxon from others in the genus:

It may seem a bit risky to introduce a new species based on a single specimen of a group as variable and confusing as the Cribrarula. Yet, Moretzsohn gives a careful analysis of shell characteristics which indeed makes his taxon distinct conchologically from the other Australian Cribrarulae. To me there are three reasons for accepting Cribrarula gravida as valid species:

1) the Cribrarula-group is highly diverse, especially in Australia, and the shell characteristics of the holotype are quite convincingly different from other congeners.

2) the locus typicus, Fish Rock, New South Wales is far away from the distribution of any other species of the genus and

3) on studying my own material I realized I had two specimens closely resembling C. gravida in my own collection, both from southern Queensland, ascertaining the taxon's features.

Cribrarula gravida Moretzsohn 2002, holotype, 35 mm

Cribrarula gravida.
Left: 36 mm, Moreton Bay, Queensland, 80-100 m
Right: 35 mm, taken by diver at 25 m at South Stradbroke Island, Moreton Bay

In recent years, numerous mostly smaller, more or less calloused C. cribraria-like shells have been collected in northern New South Wales.
None of them really matches the holotype of gravida, but by general consent, they have become popular under that name.

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first uploaded 2003