Pygmaepterys, A Newly Described Taxon of Muricidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda), with the Description of Three New Species from the Cenozoic of the Western Atlantic

Abstract

"Murex" alfredensis Bartsch, 1915, has recently been named as the type species of a new subgenus Pygmaepterys Vokes, 1978, along with a second species, P. maraisi, described at the same time.  "Murex" funafutiensis Hedley, 1899, is here tentatively assigned to the same subgenus and three new species are described:  Pygmaeptenys germainae, from the Recent and fossil fauna of the Caribbean; and P. pratulum and P. drezi, from the Miocene Chipola Formation of northwestern Florida.  The subgenus was initially assigned to the genus Pterynotus in the subfamily Muncinae but P. gennainae proves to have a radula that indicates placement in the subfamily Muricopsinae.  The unanswered question is whether P. alfredensis, P. maraisi, and P. pratulum, n. sp., are congeneric with P. funafutiensis, P. germainae and P. drezi. n. sp., or whether the latter are members of a superficially similar genus-group in the Muricopsinae, distinct from Pygmaepterys.