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Taxon Pages
Taxon Pages
Oliva longispira Bridgman, 1906
Nomenclature
-
Synonyms: 1
SUMMARY
Distribution: Central Indo-Pacific realm. Western Coral Triangle province Eastern Philippines ecoregion (Philippines), Tropical Southwestern Pacific province (Vanuatu). Eastern Coral Triangle province (New Britain, Papua New Guinea).
RV 5840. Papua New Guinea, New Britain, Tolwat, November 1982. Scale bar is 1 cm.
RV 4118. Vanuatu, Malekula Island; by diver, on sand, depth 8-12 m; July 2003. Scale bar is 1 cm.
The taxon represents an interesting case of the difficulties encountered with species delimitation in some of the former subgenera of the genus Oliva. In contemporarry literature it is either considered to be a junior synonym of Oliva oliva (Linnaeus, 1758) (Tursch & Greifeneder, 2001; Perini, 2012) or a distinct species (Petuch & Sargent, 1986; Hunon, Hoarau & Robin, 2009). Sterba"s figures (2004: Pl. 26 figs. 1-5); specimens from Sri Lanka and Indonesia do not represent this species but are slender morphs of Oliva oliva.
Perini (op. cit.) stated: "The only geographic form [of Oliva oliva] seems to be the form longispira Bridgman, 1906 which is present only in a small geographic zone.".
Oliva ispidula var. gratiosa Vanatta, 1915, described from the Philippines, is not a junior synonym of this species as suggested by Petuch & Sargent (1986) but represent a not particularly high-spired normal Oliva oliva.