Richard E. Petit’s research while affiliated with Field Museum of Natural History and other places

Cancellaria (Cancellaria) coltrorum, new species, is described from shallow waters of the southern Brazilian Province, ranging from the Abrolhos Archipelago to Vitória. This new species co-occurs with C. petuchi Harasewych, Petit & Verhecken, 1992 but may be distinguished from it by having a broader shell with a shorter, wider spire; a proportionally larger aperture that is widest along its adapical half and has fewer, weaker lirae on the outer lip; and, most conspicuously, by having reticulate sculpture that becomes more irregular and dominated by axial ribs in latter whorls, and by being white or faintly mottled in very light tan rather than having dark brown spiral bands. The broad-ranging Cancellaria reticulata (Linnaeus, 1767) differs from both C. petuchi and C. coltrorum in having a shell with finer and more regular spiral and axial sculpture that is equal in prominence and produces a regular, reticulated pattern, as well as in having a thick, bifid posteriormost columellar fold and in lacking a thick callus that obscures the sculpture along the parietal region. Similarities in shell morphology suggest that C. mixta Landau, Petit & Silva, 2012, from the late Miocene of Panama, was a progenitor of C. coltrorum and C. petuchi, as well as the Panamic C. urceolata Hinds, 1843.

Data on the shell morphology, microstructure, anatomy, and DNA sequences of two mitochondrial genes (COI and 16S rDNA) are used to infer the phylogenetic relationships of Brocchinia clenchi Petit, 1986 within the morphologically diverse and taxonomically complex deep-water genus Brocchinia. Initial molecular data show that this small, narrow-shelled species from the Atlantic is more closely related to a morphologically and ecologically similar species from the Indo-Pacifi c than either is to a representative of a broad-shelled group within the genus that is also present in the Atlantic and Indo-Pacifi c Oceans. While the thick shell, prominent columellar folds and apertural lirae of many Brocchinia species are features shared with members of the subfamily Cancellariinae, the absence of a radula is a characteristic of some, though not all Admetinae. Sequence data for the COI gene places Brocchinia within the Cancellariinae, while 16S rDNA data analyzed separately or together with COI places Brocchinia in a clade with Mirandaphera. This clade falls within Admetinae (16S only), or is separate from both Admetinae and Cancellariinae (COI + 16S), but not with strong support. Neither morphological characters nor molecular data have yet been able to unambiguously place the genus Brocchinia within the family Cancellariidae. RESUMO Utilizaram-se dados sobre a morfologia da concha, microestrutura, anatomia e sequências de ADN de dois genes mitocondriais (COI e 16S rDNA) para inferir das relações fi logenéticas de Brocchinia clenchi Petit, 1986 dentro do morfologicamente diverso e taxonomicamente complexo género de águas profundas Brocchinia. Dados moleculares preliminares mostram que esta pequena espécie de concha estreita do Atlântico é mais relacionada com uma espécie do Indo-Pacífi co morfológica e ecologicamente similar do que ambas o são de um representante de um grupo de conchas largas dentro do género, também presente nos oceanos Atlântico e Indo-Pacífi co. Enquanto que a concha espessa, as dobras columelares proeminentes e as liras aperturais de muitas espécies de Brocchinia são características partilhadas com membros da subfamília Cancellariinae, a ausência de rádula é uma característica de alguns, embora não todos, Admetinae. Dados de sequência para o gene COI colocam Brocchinia com os Cancellariinae, enquanto que dados de 16S rDNA analizados separadamente ou juntamente com COI colocam Brocchinia num clado com Mirandaphera. Este clado está incluído em Admetinae (apenas 16S), ou é separado de Admetinae e de Cancellariinae (COI + 16S), mas não com forte suporte. Nem os caracteres morfológicos nem os dados moleculares têm até agora sido capazes de colocar sem ambiguidade o género Brocchinia na família Cancellariidae.

Extractrix dockeryi is described from beds of Middle Eocene (Bartonian) age in the Gosport Sand Formation at Little Stave Creek, Alabama and the contemporaneous McBean Formation at Orangeburg, South Carolina. This new species represents the earliest occurrence of open coiling in the family Cancellariidae. Other records of open coiling in the Cancellariidae are reviewed, and the taxonomic status and composition of the genus Extractrix is discussed.

Cancellaria corrosa Reeve, 1856, a species described from an unknown locality and believed by early authors to inhabit “China Seas,” has been found to be a component of the sublittoral fauna of western Central America. A more detailed description of the shell and radula of this species is provided. As specimens have been misidentified in collections as C. decussata Sowerby I, 1832 or C. gemmulata Sowerby I, 1832, features useful to distinguish these species are provided. Examination of the fossil literature for the region indicates that the lineage giving rise to C. corrosa has been present since at least the middle Miocene.

Disparities in dating the molluscan taxa introduced in three books by E. J. Petuch are discussed and reconciled. Also addressed is the potential problem in using the copyright date or the Library of Congress Control Number for dating nomenclatural acts that are published in books.

Thirty species of Cancellariidae in 11 genera from the Miocene Gatun Formation in the Panama Canal area, Caribbean Panama, are discussed including two species not represented by specimens suitable for formal description. The following 11 species are described as new: Cancellaria harzhauseri n. sp., Cancellaria mixta n. sp., Bivetiella dilatata n. sp., Euclia alacertata n. sp., Pyruclia tweedledum n. sp., Pyruclia tweedledee n. sp., Massyla toulai n. sp., Aphera aphrodite n. sp., Axelella cativa n. sp., Agatrix agathe n. sp., Ventrilia coatesi n. sp. This assemblage of cancellariids is very diverse and highly endemic, with 18 (60 percent) species found only in the Miocene Gatun Formation. These assemblages all lie within the Gatunian Neogene Paciphile Molluscan Unit 1 (GNPMU1).

The Museum Godeffroy (1861–1885), a private natural history museum in Hamburg (Germany) founded by the merchant John Cesar VI Godeffroy, functioned as a research and public display museum, as well as a natural history specimen dealership. Large collections of zoological, botanical, ethnographic, and anthropological specimens were obtained by company employees and an international group of contract collectors, mostly in the Pacific, made available for study to specialists, and placed in the museum’s holdings or distributed by sale. The museum produced two series of publications, both containing descriptions of new zoological taxa as well as nomina nuda: a set of Museum Godeffroy Catalogs (1864–1884) and the Journal des Museum Godeffroy (1873–1910), both described and dated in detail herein. This paper summarizes the history of the museum and its collecting efforts, with special focus on malacological research and the development and fate of molluscan collections of the Museum Godeffroy, with much of the material having passed to Hamburg’s Naturhistorisches Museum where they were largely destroyed during World War II. Using a species-level numbering system, the Museum Godeffroy Catalog series (and the labels associated with Museum Godeffroy specimens that were sold and traded worldwide) introduced hundreds of gastropod and bivalve nomina nuda into the molluscan literature. Previously uncertain dating of the malacological publications in the Museum’s Journal, mostly by Rudolph Bergh on Pacific nudibranchs, similarly created taxonomic confusion as many of the supposedly new taxa were near-simultaneously published also in other serial publications. 591 molluscan names in the Museum Godeffroy Catalogs, and 59 in the Journal are discussed. It is shown that 42 molluscan names date from these publications, all of them gastropods: 1 (preoccupied) genus group name and 4 replacement species names by J. D. E. Schmeltz, 5 genera and 31 species-group taxa by R. Bergh, and 1 species by F. Heynemann..

The purpose of this note is to make known the existence on the Internet, for over a year, of two papers on which authorship had been changed from previously published originals. Although now removed from the Internet, these were downloadable .pdf files and may have been downloaded and/or printed from those .pdf files. (18) (PDF) The case of the abducted Nautilus papers.. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271205573_The_case_of_the_abducted_Nautilus_papers [accessed Nov 05 2021].