Muricodrupa is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the subfamily Ergalataxinae of the family Muricidae, the murex snails or rock snails.[1]

Muricodrupa
Muricodrupa fenestrata. Image donated by Naturalis Biodiversity Center, from a specimen in the Rijksmuseum collection, Leiden.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Caenogastropoda
Order: Neogastropoda
Superfamily: Muricoidea
Family: Muricidae
Subfamily: Ergalataxinae
Genus: Muricodrupa
Iredale, 1918
Type species
Purpura fenestrata
Blainville, 1832

Species edit

According to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) before 2019, the following species were included within the genus Muricodrupa :[3]

  • Muricodrupa fiscellum (Gmelin, 1791), now Murichorda fiscellum (Gmelin, 1791)
  • Muricodrupa jacobsoni Emerson & D'Attilio, 1981, now Murichorda jacobsoni (Emerson & D'Attilio, 1981) (original combination)

The Indo-Pacific Molluscan Database (2006) also includes the following names in current use [4]

  • Muricodrupa fusca (Küster, 1868 in 1859-68): synonym of Semiricinula fusca (Küster, 1862)
  • Muricodrupa pothuanii (Souleyet in Eydoux & Souleyet, 1852)
  • Muricodrupa stellaris (Hombron & Jaquinot, 1854)

Taxonomy edit

In 1918, Iredale noted that the shell then known as Ricinula (or Sistrum) cancellata Quoy and Gaimard 1833 was synonymous with the Purpura fenestrata of Blainville, 1832. He asserted that the species was distinct from Drupa and Morula, creating a new monotypic genus Muricodrupa.[5]

By 2013, the genus had been expanded to several species. Claremont et al. found the type species Muricodrupa fenestrata was related to Morula anaxares, but not to other species that had been classified into Muricodrupa. As a result, in 2019 Houart et al. proposed renaming Morula anaxares to Muricodrupa anaxares, and removing M. fiscellum and M. jacobsoni to a new genus Murichorda. Muricodrupa as redefined is related to a group of former Morula species now called Tenguella.

References edit

  1. ^ Muricodrupa Iredale, 1918. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 25 April 2010.
  2. ^ Muricodrupa fenestrata (Blainville, 1832). Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 25 April 2010.
  3. ^ WoRMS : Muricodrupa
  4. ^ OBIS : Muricodrupa
  5. ^ Pages 38–39 in Iredale, Tom (1918). "Molluscan nomenclatural problems and solutions.- No. 1". Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London. 3 (1–2): 28–40.