Abstract
A new tellinid species, Pharaonella amanyu sp. n., is described from sand banks around Amami Islands, the Ryukyu Archipelago, in southern Japan. A molecular phylogenetic analysis suggests that this new species is closely related to P. sieboldii. This species has long siphons and lives buried deep in well-sorted white sand syntopically with Tonganaella tongana. These rare, large tellinid species are indicators of unspoiled tidal/subtidal sand flats, which should receive the highest priority conservation in the Ryukyu Archipelago.
Highlights
Coral reef ecosystems often contain sand flats in which the sediments are mainly composed of coral sand
The morphological characteristic unique to Pharaonella is the commarginally grooved sculpture of right shell valves (Huber et al 2015), a feature exhibited by the new species
In P. amanyu sp. n. this sculpture is confined to the beak of right shell valve
Summary
Coral reef ecosystems often contain sand flats in which the sediments are mainly composed of coral sand. The genus Pharaonella (Lamy, 1918) and the recently described Tonganaella Huber, Langleit & Kreipl, 2015 are both characterised by large narrow shells with rostration posteriorly, and both occur in tidal and subtidal sandy substrata, where they are buried deeply and extend their long siphons up to the surface of the sediment In these genera, four species are presently known from Japan: T. perna (Spengler, 1798); T. tongana (Quoy & Gaimard, 1835); P. aurea (Perry, 1811); P. sieboldii (Deshayes, 1855). To clarify the specific status and phylogenetic position of the new species, we made molecular phylogenetic analyses of Pharaonella species and related taxa in Tellinidae In this paper, this bivalve is described as a new species, its special habitat reported, and the conservational priority of the unspoiled intertidal/subtidal sand banks bounding a strait between coral reefs is emphasised
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