title: Two new turrid species (Gastropoda: Pseudomelatomidae) from the Palawan region, the Philippines.
abstract: Species richness of tropical marine molluscs is considerably underestimated (Bouchet et al. 2002). Indeed, the molluscan faunas of some regions, such as Palawan in the western Pacific, have received little attention and some hyper-diverse groups, such as the turrids (a parapyhletic group of Conoidea, formerly known as Turridae), are barely documented. For example, apart from original descriptions of two turrid taxa that have their type locations in Palawan (Comitas aequatorialis palawanica Powell, 1969 and Mangilia quadrasi Boettger, 1895 = Gingicithara notabilis (E. A. Smith, 1888)), there are no published records of turrids from this region. We have been fortunate to have access to recent collections of turrids from different parts of Palawan. Examination of these materials has revealed existence of several undescribed and potentially endemic species. In the present paper two new Pseudomelatomidae species are described.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Koblenz-Landau, Fortstr. 7, 76829 Landau, Germany.; Email: stahlschmidt@uni-landau.de.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Stahlschmidt
authors.affiliation: Leuvensestraat 25, B-3200 Aarschot, Belgium.; Email: koen.fraussen@skynet.be.
authors.forename: Koen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fraussen
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000825:Animal Structures / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000818:Animals; D017753:Ecosystem; D049851:Gastropoda / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000145:classification*; D010679:Philippines