First record of the rare sea snail Liostomia minutissima Golikov in Golikov et Scarlato, 1967 (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Pyramidellidae) from the intertidal zone of the Russian seas

Abstract

A rare small-sized species of gastropod mollusk, the sea snail Liostomia minutissima Golikov in Golikov et Scarlato, 1967 (Pyramidellidae), was found in the intertidal zone off the Likander Peninsula, Popov Island, Peter the Great Bay (Sea of Japan) in 2019. This finding is the first record of the species for the intertidal fauna inhabiting the seas of Russia. Live individuals were collected from the rocky bottom in the middle horizon of the intertidal zone occupied by a community of the red algae Neorhodomela aculeata+Corallina pilulifera and other five species of small-sized gastropods. Shells of L. minutissima are grayish-white in color, shiny, from 1.55 to 1.7 mm in height. This finding was made among islands in the central part of Peter the Great Bay, where the bivalve mollusk Tellimya fujitaniana (Yokoyama, 1927), also new to the fauna of Russia, was previously discovered in the subtidal zone. The wide variety of available biotopes, active hydrodynamics, specific system of currents, and a moderate level of anthropogenic pressure are the major factors that make this area, along with the southwestern Peter the Great Bay, an interesting place where new malacological findings should be expected.