New record of Cuspidaria patagonica Smith, 1885 (Bivalvia: Cuspidariidae) in northern Chile

Abstract

Deep water mollusks have been sparsely studied in Chile and, apart from some classic works (e. g. Smith 1885; Dall 1889, 1890, among others) and studies done mostly in central-southern Chile (Sellanes & Krylova 2005, Holmes et al. 2006, Fraussen & Sellanes 2008, among others), only a few recent works have reviewed species from the northern areas of the country (Bernard 1988, Guzmán et al. 1998, Véliz & Vásquez 2000, Pacheco & Laudien 2008, Araya 2013). Among the deep-water bivalves, genus Cuspidaria Nardo, 1840 encompasses several small species with nearly equivalve but markedly inequilateral smooth shells, with the posterior end rostrate to spoutlike and a hinge with one posterior lateral tooth (Keen 1971). This genus is represented in Chile by three species, all of them found in deep waters: Cuspidaria infelix Thiele, 1912 and Cuspidaria tenella Smith, 1907, both species found in Antarctic waters and in southern Patagonia (C. infelix) and Cuspidaria patagonica (Smith, 1885), which has been previously recorded in the Strait of Magellan (Smith 1885, Valdovinos 1999).