Unravelling the conoidean gastropods assigned to the genus Propebela (Gastropoda: Mangeliidae) from south-western Atlantic deep waters

ABSTRACTA new genus of conoidean gastropods of the family Mangeliidae, Notopropebela gen. nov., is herein described to include N. profunda (Castellanos and Landoni, 1993) previously in the genus Propebela Iredale, 1918, and two new species from the deep waters off south-western Atlantic Argentine. This new genus is characterised by small rhomboid shells with axial riblets and spiral cords, absent operculum, and radula of semi-enrolled marginal teeth. Both new species are distinguished from N. profunda by the presence of pustules covering the shell. Notopropebela pustulata sp. nov. was collected at depths ranging from 530 to 2845 m off Argentina within the Mar del Plata Submarine Canyon in the north and Burdwood Bank surroundings in the south. Notopropebela petu sp. nov., distinguished from N. pustulata by a larger spire and subsutural ramp, was described from material collected from 210 m off Buenos Aires province. The radula and details of the shell and protoconch of both new species were studied from material deposited in the collections of Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales (MACN) and Museo de La Plata (MLP). We conclude that the genus Propebela is absent from the south-western Atlantic.http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:act:BABC3CF0-0301-43D5-8F61-01EB94F7D647http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:act:CA51AFD6-0C1D-49C2-91EE-BF3F7DBA3625http://www.zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:act:D0130F68-6631-4368-91B1-5E68AF0B3C85KEYWORDS: MolluscaGastropodaConoideaArgentinadeep-seaOenopota AcknowledgementsWe are grateful to B. Hausdorf (ZMH), C. Zorn (ZMB), V. Héros (MNHN), A. Tablado (MACN) and G. Darrigran (MLP) who kindly gave access to or sent material from malacological collections under their care. F. Tricárico (MACN) assisted with the operation of the SEM. C. Sánchez Antelo and L. Pacheco (MACN) collected specimens while working onboard the R/V Austral. Three anonymous reviewers and the editor kindly helped with constructive comments on an earlier version of this paper. This work is contribution no. 68 to the Area Marina Protegida Namuncurá (Ley 26.875). Scientific surveys at the Burdwood Bank were funded through the National Law 26.875 of creation of the MPA Namuncurá.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Correction StatementThis article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by PICT 2016-1309 and PICT 2016-0211 from Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica, and a COA Grant of Malacology to NS. We acknowledge funding by the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET) of Argentina, to which CD and GP belong as members of the Carrera del Investigador Científico and NS as a fellow.