A molecular framework for the systematics of the Mediterranean spindle-shells (Gastropoda, Neogastropoda, Fasciolariidae, Fusininae)

A remarkably high diversity of native small spindle-shells (Gastropoda, Fasciolariidae, Fusininae) has been recently invento- ried in the Mediterranean Sea, with 23 species identified based on shell morphology. They have almost invariably been classified in the genus Fusinus, and a few of them recently moved to other genera (Aptyxis Troschel 1868, Aegeofusinus Russo, 2017 and Gracilipurpura Jousseaume, 1880), mostly based on the sole shell features. We have reconstructed a molecular phylogenetic framework for the Mediterranean Fusininae, focusing on native species representative of the genus-level taxa. Our results con- firmed that Fusinus s.s. (type species Murex colus Linnaeus, 1758) should be restricted to a group of large-shelled species from the Indo-West Pacific and does not fit any of the small-shelled Mediterranean fusinines. We confirm that Murex syracusanus Linnae- us, 1758 represents a distinct lineage, and show that for all the remaining species the pattern is suggestive of a single monophyletic radiation of small Mediterranean fusinines, for which the name Pseudofusus Monterosato, 1884 must be used.