Abstract
The family Patellidae has been recognized as a complex taxonomic group for many years and its poor fossil record has complicated the study of the group. One of these limpet species, Cymbula nigra has its distributional range from Namibia to the Mediterranean and two varieties of Cymbula nigra (formerly named Patella nigra) have been reported: Patella nigra plumbea (typical form widely spread) and Patella nigra ghananis (variety from Ghana). The results of the present study clearly show that some specimens from Ghana reported as Cymbula nigra belong to a different species. In fact, this species is closely related to Cellana toreuma from Java (Indonesia), whereas specimens from Java appear as a distinct and cryptic species of Cellana toreuma distributed in Japan to Hong Kong. The specimens from Ghana could have been recently introduced in West Africa from the Indian Ocean. It represents the first record of the genus Cellana in the Atlantic. Furthermore, the variety described as Patella nigra ghananis in the previous literature probably were specimens of this new Cellana species.
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