“Provocator corderoi Carcelles
Plates 106, 107
Provocator corderoi Carcelles 1947, Comunicaciones Zoologicas del Museo de Historia Natural de Montevideo 2 (40): 5, pl. 1, figs. 1-5 (about 100 miles ESE of Necochea, Argentina [39°00' S; 57°10' W] in 97 fathoms). [Holotype in the National Museum, Buenos Aires, Argentina.]
Description. Shell rather small, reaching 64 mm. (2½ inches) in length, thin, imperforate and finely sculptured. Color a porcelain white covered with a thin, light brown periostracum. Whorls 5, slightly convex. Spire moderately extended and produced at an angle of 50°. Aperture irregularly semicircular with a broad and shallow siphonal canal below. Outer lip thin, simple and slightly reflected. Parietal wall glazed, the glaze extending to just below the tip of the spire. Columella short and spiral with one or two plicae. Suture broadly impressed and covered by the glaze. Anal canal narrow. Area of the canal forming a narrow, slanting shoulder on the whorl, which is somewhat thickened and china-white in color. Sculpture consisting of very fine growth lines and exceedingly fine and rather indistinct spiral threads. Protoconch glazed over.
Posterior end of the foot an intense bright orange becoming gradually light and diffused anteriorly, the anterior end of the foot being a light salmon color. Mantle light salmon with a bright orange band just inside the edge. Siphon bright orange. Lateral lobes of head and tentacles orange; the broad central lobe a light orange shading to tan at the center. Under surface of foot a uniform ivory. Head very broad and flat; tentacles short and broad. Eyes small, black and located at the base of the tentacles on the lateral lobes. Siphon with two equal basal lobes which in preserved specimens are nearly as long as the siphon. The single animal we had for study was too poorly preserved for detailed anatomical work, but sufficient could be observed to allow us to state definitely that it agrees with the characters of the subfamily Zidoninae. The radular teeth are extremely heavy, though typical of the subfamily.
length
width
64 mm.
30 mm.
135 miles east of Cabo San Antonio, Argentina
59
29
about 150 miles east of Cabo San Antonio, Argentina
63
33
Holotype
52
29
about 135 miles east of Mar del Plata, Argentina
Remarks. This is the second known species in this genus. Provocator pulcher Watson was dredged by the Challenger in the southern Indian Ocean between Kerguelen and Heard Islands in 150 fathoms and off Cumberland Bay, Kerguelen Island in 105 fathoms.
P. corderoi differs from P. pulcher by being smaller and in having fewer whorls and proportionately a more reduced spire. In depth, P. corderoi ranges from 30 to 85 fathoms.
We are most grateful to Dr. Rios for the soft parts of Provocator corderoi Carcelles. Unfortunately, the shell was completely broken, but enough remained for Dr. Rios to determine it. The specimen was dredged by L. R. Pontes of the fishing vessel Pescal II off Cabo San Antonio, Argentina in 80 fathoms.
Range. The few records available are not sufficient to determine the range of this species. The five stations given by Carcelles all fall within a distance of 180 nautical miles.
Specimens examined. ARGENTINA : about 135 miles E of Cabo San Antonio (36°10' S; 54°20' W) in 38 fathoms; about 150 miles E of Cabo San Antonio in 85 fathoms (both C. Weaver).”
(Clench & Turner, 1964: 168-169)
Provocator corderoi is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Volutidae, the volutes.[1]
Provocator corderoi is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Volutidae, the volutes.
