Abstract
West Africa is often considered one of the least studied regions of the world concerning marine biodiversity. Knowledge about the philinid snails of the region has largely been based on shells, but shells can be insufficient to discriminate between species. In this paper, we review the diversity and revise the systematics of the West African species of Philinidae sensu lato based on a comprehensive literature review and the study of shells, anatomy and DNA sequence data of novel specimens obtained by the R/V Dr Fridtjof Nansen (2005–2012) between Morocco and Angola. We use scanning electron microscopy together with a cytochrome c oxidase subunit I molecular phylogeny and molecular species delimitation methods (ABGD and SDP Geneious Plug In) to define species. Twenty species (19 formally named) were found to occur in the region, including four new species we describe here: Laona nanseni sp. nov., Philine cerebralis sp. nov., Philine schrammi sp. nov. and Spiniphiline caboverdensis sp. nov. We identified a complex of four cryptic species under the name P. quadripartita (P. guineensis, P. quadripartita, Philine schrammi sp. nov., Philine sp.). A biogeographical break is observed around Cape Verde and the Sahelian upwelling system coinciding with the West African Transition Province; eight species have their northern geographical limit or are restricted to this Province, while ten species have their southern limit here or just further north. Only one species seems to span across this biogeographical breaking point (P. scabra), but we speculate that this might result from taxonomic misidentifications.
Highlights
West Africa is often considered one of the least studied regions of the world concerning marine biodiversity
All philinid snails were traditionally included in the family Philinidae (Burn & Thompson, 1998; Malaquias et al, 2009), but Oskars et al (2015) recently produced sound evidence for the polyphyly of the family, and proposed a new classification where the traditional Philinidae [ referred as Philinidae sensu lato (s.l.) or philinid snails) is divided into four distinct linages of familial status supported by molecular phylogenetic data and by morphological traits
This is the case of the species P. angulata and P. retifera, which are here provisionally ascribed to the family Philinidae and genus Philine
Summary
West Africa is often considered one of the least studied regions of the world concerning marine biodiversity. Philinids are a group of marine infaunal Cephalaspidea gastropods with a dorso-ventrally flattened body They occur worldwide across all latitudes and inhabit soft substrates of mud and sand from shallow waters to the deep sea A total of 15 species (including one described as a subspecies) of Philinidae s.l. have been referred previously to this work from West Africa, between Morocco and South Africa including the Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands and the islands Sa~o Tom e and Principe (Table 1) Four of these species have their type localities in African waters: Philine alternans van der Linden, 1995, P. aperta guineensis Marcus & Marcus, 1966, P. araneosa van der Linden, 1995 and P. gelida van der Linden, 1995
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