Experts have succeeded in describing A new kind of molluscs of the genus Steromphala Gray, 1847 (Gastropoda Trochidae), Based on the characteristics of the scales, of the Sicily channel.
It compares The Steromphala of the Federic N. Sp. With the most closely related species that have a clear sculpture, namely S. Racketti (Payraudeau, 1826) and S. Nivosa (A. Adams, 1853), Endemic of the nearby Malta area.
The New Mollusco species, which are found exclusively in the Skerki Bank, cannot be confirmed as endemically due to the limited current knowledge about the Sicily channel benchesBut it has already been accepted as a new species.
The mollusk of the Sicily channel
A team of the Oceanogràfic Foundation, in collaboration with Italian researchers, has discovered a new kind of mollusc in the Mediterranean Sea, A marine snail of a few millimeters, whose last kind of the same sex was described almost two centuries ago.
It’s about it The Steromphala of the FedericA small mollusch that can be endemic for this region and That scientists first described for science in the magazine Biodiversity Journal, the Oceanogràfic reported.
The finding, Made during the last scientific expedition “Skerki Mission”, takes on the special relevance because the last type of the same sex described in the Mediterranean Sea from 1853, almost 200 years ago.
The team led by Marino biologist Andrea Spinelli, of the Oceanogràfic Foundation, has worked in the last two years Characterization of the biodiversity of the Bank of Skerki, a little known area between Sicily (Italy) and Tunisia.
Research has been possible thanks to two scientific campaigns that were carried out in 2023 and 2024, in which marine biologists, documentaries, archaeologists and taxonomy experts participated. In one of the diving, More than a hundred copies of a snail of a few millimeters in a shallow cave were located.
New species according to laboratory analysis
He Subsequent morphological and morphometric analysis in the laboratory confirmed that it was a new species For science. The scientific description of The Steromphala of the Federic, Name with which they mentioned the Caracol Marino was carried out in collaboration with biologist Ivan Gatí and Ecology Professor Salvatore Giacobbe, from the University of Messina (Italy).
Loose Copies of these colored molluscs are deposited in scientific institutions such as the National Museum of Natural Sciences of MadridThe Regional Museum of Natural Sciences of Turin, the University of Messina and the Oceanogràfic Foundation.
«The discovery of a New species in the 21st century is proof of how much it still has to be known about our Mediterranean Sea“Andrea Spinelli said, which has confirmed that” the great biodiversity in remote areas such as Skerki continues to keep secrets of an unpredictable value for science and conservation. “
The Ya Oceanographic Foundation Preparing a new expedition for this year for the aim of continuing to document the species that are present in this area and deepen the knowledge of its ecosystems. EFE/ECOTICIA.COM