Copulabyssia riosi, a new deep-sea limpet (Gastropoda: Pseudococculinidae) from the continental slope off Brazil with comments on the systematics of the genus

Abstract

A new bathyal species of the family Pseudococculinidae is described from samples dredged in 1987 along the continental slope of southeastern-eastern Brazil by the French research vessel Marlon-Dufresne. The new species, allocated in the genus Copulabyssia, differs from the 4 other known congeners by characters of shell, external morphology, mantle cavity, and radula. Descriptions of internal morphology based on microdissections are provided, including the digestive system and the complex muscular apparatus of the odontophore. The distribution of characters of taxonomic significance at the species level in Copulabyssia is given in tabular format and discussed.