Olivellopsis, THIELE, 1929

GENUS OLIVELLOPSIS THIELE, 1929 View in CoL (1)

Type species: Olivella (Callianax) simplex Pease 1868 ; M.

Synonym: Olivella (Janaoliva) Sterba & Lorenz, 2005 , syn. nov. Type species: Olivella amoni Sterba & Lorenz, 2005 ; OD.

Remarks: When describing Janaoliva, Sterba & Lorenz (2005) compared it with Olivella , correctly pointing out the very simplified structure of the plication plate, which differs from other subgenera of Olivella . Kantor & Bouchet (2007) overlooked the description of Janaoliva and thus did not compare Olivella amoni with the very similar species Olivellopsis simplex , which they included in Belloliva . The very long branches of both Belloliva and Olivellopsis suggest that they are two separate genera. In the vicinity of Kavieng (New Ireland), the type locality of O. amoni , another similar, although molecularly different species was recently found. Their radulae are similar ( Fig. 11C) and are close to the radulae of O. simplex from New Caledonia ( Kantor & Bouchet, 2007: Fig. 12A–D). In the light of the new data indicating the presence of a species complex, O. simplex from New Caledonia may be specifically different from O. simplex , the type locality of which is the ‘Paumotus Islands’ (Tuamotu Archipelago), French Polynesia. We also found very similar shells off Madagascar. It is possible that a whole radiation of Olivellopsis will be uncovered by molecular phylogenetics.