The KARUBENTHOS I expedition to Guadeloupe (tropical Western Atlantic) in May 2012 yielded many new and poorly known marine molluscs, including two new species of Rissoinidae belonging to the genera Mirarissoina and Zebinella.

KARUBENTHOS 2012

The KARUBENTHOS expedition to Guadeloupe (tropical western Atlantic) in May 2012 yielded many new and poorly known marine molluscs, including new species of Rissoinidae. In this paper we describe Chiliostigma tumida n. sp. Chiliostigma Melvill, 1912, introduced as a subgenus of Rissoina d’Orbigny, 1840, is used here as a separate genus.

KARUBENTHOS 2012

About 50 species of the genus Conus are recorded from the Chesterfield Islands, which are situated between New Caledonia and Queensland. Conus luciae is described as a new species from Banc Nova from depths around 300 m.

CHALCAL 1

Deep-water benthos off Wallis and Futuna Islands was sampled by dredging and trawling during the MUSORSTOM 7 expedition in 1992. Twenty eight species of the genus Conus were obtained, some of which had been translocated from shallow into deeper water. Four species remain unidentified and eighteen represent new regional records, the total number of Conus species recorded from this archipelago now standing at fifty-three. Conus pacificus n.sp., from 295-600 m, and C. neptunus futunaensis n.ssp., from 370-455 m, are described.

MUSORSTOM 7

Based on surveys conducted in the 1980s-1990s, especially the MUSORSTOM 9 expedition, we report on the bathymetric occurrences of 35 species of Conus in the Marquesas A rchipelago. Four are new records of shallow-water tropical Indo-Pacific species, and six are new species that were dredged, essentially from depths between 100 and 400 meters. The species classically found in deep water elsewhere in the South Pacific are strikingly absent from the Marquesas, and the local deep-water faunule is thus highly endemic. This study confirms the Marquesas as a biogeographically outstanding archipelago, with a rather poor, but unique, benthic fauna. New species: Conus tiki spec. Nov., C. dieteri spec. Nov., C. pepeiu spec. Nov. , C. troendlei spec. Nov., C. hivanus spec. Nov., and C. pseudimperialis spec. Nov.

MUSORSTOM 9, SMCB

A little less than 100 species of cones are known in the literature from waters around the Fiji islands, all intertidal to subtidal. We report here on the species taken by recent offshore and deep-water benthic sampling expeditions. Samples were taken to depths of 1300 m, although cones were taken not deeper than 680 m. Leaving aside two taxa of uncertain identity, the material contains 22 species from depths deeper than 100 m, all of which are new records for Fiji, including four new species (Conus cakobaui spec. nov., alive in 414- 567 m; C. joliveti spec. nov., alive in 150-353 m; C. fijisulcatus spec. nov., alive in 150-188 m; and C. gigasulcatus spec. nov., alive in 290-300 m). A further 19 species are from depths shallower than 100 m, and these include six new records for Fiji, including two new species (C. fijiensis spec. nov., alive in 80-120 m; and C. sutanorcum spec. nov., alive in 32-50 m).

BORDAU 1, BORDAU 2, Restreint, MUSORSTOM 10, Restreint

LIFOU 2000, MONTROUZIER

KARUBENTHOS 2012

Recent dredgings in waters around New Caledonia revealed two new Conus species which are described as Conus richeri, n. sp. and Conus plinthis, n. sp. Both new species are compared to closely related species and their variability is enumerated.

BIOCAL, CHALCAL 2, LAGON, MUSORSTOM 4, SMIB 1, SMIB 3, VAUBAN 1978-1979

The New Caledonian species of Cones with a main distribution below 100 m are surveyed. This fauna consists of 39 species, of which 5 are new and 18 represent significant range extensions. In addition, eight species, mostly represented by single specimens, remain unidentified. Ten species (Conus boucheti, C. kanakinus, C. luciae, C. plinthis, C. richeri, and the five new ones) are so far only known from the New Caledonia region and may be endemic. Conus smirna and C. profundorum are regarded as distinct, and two additional species are described in this species complex: C. vaubani sp. Nov., from South of New Caledonia and of the New Hebrides Arc in 440-775 m; and C. loyahiensis sp. Nov. From the Loyalty Islands in 480-575 m. Three other new species, and one subspecies, are named: Conus alisi sp. Nov. From the New Caledonia area, in 200-525 m; C. estivali sp. Nov. From the Chesterfield Islands, Coral Sea, in 355-410 m; C. gondwanensis sp. Nov. From the Norfolk Ridge, South New Caledonia, in 170-260 m; and C. orbignyi coriolisi ssp. Nov., from the Coral Sea, New Caledonia and Loyalty Islands, in 225-550 m.

BERYX 11, BIOCAL, BIOGEOCAL, CALSUB, CHALCAL 1, CHALCAL 2, CORAIL 2, GEMINI, LAGON, MUSORSTOM 4, MUSORSTOM 5, MUSORSTOM 6, SMIB 1, SMIB 2, SMIB 3, SMIB 4, SMIB 5, SMIB 6, SMIB 8, VAUBAN 1978-1979, VOLSMAR

CHALCAL 1, CORAIL 2, LAGON