Cryptodaphne kilburni, a New Species of Bathyal Turrid (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia) from the Gulf of Aden (Northwestern Indian Ocean)

In September 1992 a series of dredgings was performed in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden by the French research vessel Marion Dufresne in order to contribute to the knowledge of the bathyal thanatocoenoses and biocenosis of that area. Among the abundant material of pelagic mollusks (thecosomate pteropods and heteropods) numerous empty shells of a distinctive turrid species were found. This species has conchological characters similar to those of the early Miocene Cryptodaphne pseudodrillia Powell, 1942, from New Zealand, type species of Cryptodaphne Powell, 1942, a genus comprising species usually occurring at upper bathyal depths and reported from the Indo-Pacific area. The species from Aden differs distinctly from all its previously described congeners and is accordingly here proposed as Cryptodaphne kilburni, sp. nov.