Dr. Fűköh Levente szerk.: Malakológiai Tájékoztató 12. (Eger, 1993.)
MIENIS, H. K.: A note on the systematics and distributionof „Cocculina" simplicior Melvill, 1912 (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Lepetellidae)
Fig. 1: Lepetella simplicior (Melvill, 1912) (copied after Melvill, 1912: pit. 12. figs, l-l a) Lepetella simplicior (Melvill, 1912) - Fig. 1 Cocculina simplicior Melvill, 1912: 240, pit. 12, figs. 1— la. Cocculina simplicior Trew, 1987: 63. Description: Shell semitransparent, conical, laterally compressed, with a saddle-shaped base. Apex placed centrally, wart-like. Sculpture consisting of concentric incremental growth-lines only. Animal unknown. Dimensions of largest specimen: length 3.4 mm, width 1.9 mm. Type-locality: Gulf of Oman, lat. 24° 58' N; long. 56° 54' E, in shell sand dredged at a depth of 156 fathoms (= 285 metres) Type-material: Two syntypes British Museum (Natural History) 1912.9.17.33-34 (Trew, A. 1987: 63). Studied material: Red Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, off Elat, RS-18, grab, 190 m, 8 October 1965 (HUJ 1964/3); off Elat, 300 m, summer 1988 (HUJ 1972/4); of Elat, RS-7C, grab, 410 m, 21 August 1965 (HUJ 1983/1). General distribution: Gulf of Oman and Gulf of Aqaba, but probably else-where in deepwater in the NW-corner of the Indian Ocean. Batymetric range: 190-410 metres. Remarks: Shells of Lepetella simplicior seem to differ from Lepetella laterocompressa only by being slightly more slender. It is not unlikely that this character is only of secondary importance. The form of the shell, especially its base, depends heavily on the shape of the substarte on which it lives. In the case of Lepetella laterocompressa this seems to be the tubes of polychaetes (Panetta, P. 1973: 2). Although Panetta (1973: 1) considers Lepetella laterocompressa a cosmopolitic species, his distributional records are confined to both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. As long as the animal of Lepetella simplicior remains unkown and can not be compared with that of Lepetella laterocompressa (Warén, A. 1972: 20-21, fig. 3), we prefare to treat Lepetella simplicior as a seperate Indo-Pacific species.
