A new species of Marginella from the northern Transkei, South Africa
Marginella broderickae Hayes, 2001
Here follows excerpts from an article by Brian Hayes. This appeared in the La Conchiglia magazine , No. 298 (March 2001) which is a glossy magazine filled with color photos and up-to-date articles on many of the latest findings.
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Abstract
Marginella broderickae sp. Nov, is here described from off Mbotyi in the northern Transkei, South Africa. It is compared with M. lineolata Sowerby, 1886 and M. floccata Sowerby, 1889.

Introduction
South Africa has one of the largest number of species of Marginella along its coast­line. The coastal regions of S. Africa are affected by two different oceans; the cold Atlantic and the warm Indian ocean. As a result, the molluscan fauna is very diverse, containing cold temperate, warm temperate and sub­tropical elements.
In recent years many new species of Marginella have been found and described. This has been made possible by the increased activity of scuba­diving shell­collectors and by collectors and scientists who use the dredging method to collect specimens. This latter method was used in the collection of a new species of Marginella, which is here described.

Marginella broderickae n. sp.

Description of Holotype
Shell fusiform and smooth, protoconch of 1.5 nuclear whorls, teleoconch of 2 ­ 2.5. Post­nuclear whorls straight or slightly convex. High aperture, more than .85 length of shell. Strong, thick labial margin, slightly raised dorsally and very weakly curved. Four columellar pleats, anteriorly more oblique, rounded siphonal canal. Angular shoulder, short conical spire.

Aperture cream; ground colour cream; body whorl covered by 40­45 densley­packed spiral rows of sperm­shaped brown dashes. Dashes overlaid by small, mottled brown blotches which create a marbled effect. Dashes and blotches extend up spire. Exterior margin has 10­20 brown dashes. Shoulder blotches slightly darker brown.

Distribution
Found, so far, only in the type locality which is about 10­12 km off­shore, off the Mbotyi area in the northern Transkei, which is located just south of the Natal south coast area.

Type Material

TYPE LENGTH(mm) WIDTH(mm) COLLOCATION
Holotype 25.5 14.5 Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg (Access number : V8556/T1760)
Paratype 1 25.1 14.0 Collection, B. Hayes
Paratype 2 25.5 14.5 Collection, B. Hayes
Paratype 3 25.3 14.0 Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg (Access number : V8557/T1761)


Discussion
M. broderickae is closest to M. lineolata, but also similar to M. floccata. It resembles these 2 species in shape and size, although M. lineolata does tend to be slightly larger. M. broderickae is similar to M. lineoata in that both have a mottled appearance. The main differences are : 1) M. lineolata has a grey colour , not brown. 2) M. lineolata has dense wavy axial lines (Hayes, 1995), whereas M. broderickae has dense spiral dashes. 3) M. lineolata does not have any markings on the exterior margin, whereas M. broderickae does. M. broderickae is similar to M. floccata in that they both have spiral markings overlaid by mottled brown blotches. The main differences are : 1) M. floccata has much fewer rows of spiral spots/dashes, viz 8­12, whereas M. broderickae has 40­45. M. floccata has pink flames on the body whorl when fresh (Richards, 1981) 2) The spiral dots of M. floccata are more concrete and bigger than the spiral dashes of M. broderickae. 3) The range of M. floccata is only from False Bay to Port Alfred (Hayes, 1994) which is about 350 km from the area of the new species. The range of M. lineolata also does not extend into the northern Transkei area, so M. broderickae occurs in an area which is geographically separated from these two species. The animal of M. broderickae is similar to that of M. floccata and M. lineolata although the red spotting of M. broderickae is less dense and the feelers are tinged with orange which is not the case in M. floccata and M. lineolata.

Material Examined
One live­taken specimen (holotype), 3 dead specimens (paratypes) and two further dead specimens were examined.
All these were dredged off Mbotyi area in the northern Transkei, at 80­90m on a sandy substrate.

Etymology
The name is given in honour of Lynne Broderick, a co­worker and keen shell­collector.

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