BULLETIN OF MARINE SCIENCE, 79(1): 205–230, 2006 205 Bulletin of Marine Science © 2006 Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science of the University of Miami NEW TAXA PAPER CORALLIOPHILINE DIVERSITY AT MID ATLANTIC SEAMOUNTS NEOGASTROPODA, MURICIDAE, CORALLIOPHILINAE Marco Oliverio and Serge Gofas ABSTRACT Eleven species of the Coralliophilinae were identified on seamounts of the NE Atlantic and in the Azores. e species-level taxonomy is reviewed with empha- sis on the protoconch species-specific characters. e Meteor group of seamounts yielded six species (plus two unidentified), with 3–6 species found sympatrically. Babelomurex atlantidis is described as new, Coralliophila aedonia (Watson, 1886), Babelomurex sentix (Bayer, 1971) and B. dalli (Emerson and D’Attilio, 1963) are re- ported for the first time in the mid-North Atlantic. Species which were found either abundant ( C. aedonia, B. sentix, B. atlantidis) or reproducing (B. dalli) are assumed to form established populations on the mid-Atlantic seamounts. In the Lusitanian group of seamounts only Gorringe yielded more than one species; all species are shared either with the European mainland or with the Canary Islands, and there is no evidence for established populations. e coralliophiline species found on the seamounts showed evidence of planktotrophic larval development; at least two are amphiatlantic, which illustrates the role of the seamounts as stepping stones in transoceanic dispersal. Some species are not known outside the seamounts, but this may be explained by the increased availability of bathyal hard bottoms rather than by limitations to dispersal. e Coralliophilinae include ca. 200 species of coral eating gastropods, distributed worldwide in tropical and temperate seas. eir placement within the family Muri- cidae, close to Rapaninae s.l. is strongly supported by molecular data (Oliverio and Mariottini, 2001a; Oliverio, Cervelli and Mariottini, 2002). Here we review the coralliophiline material collected during the two Seamount ex- peditions (Figure 1) carried out with research vessels of the French marine research agency IFREMER. ese cruises were aimed at general collecting of the benthic fauna and a better understanding of the colonization of isolated sites by the benthic species. Seamount 1 was conducted in September/October 1987 by P. Bouchet (Muséum Na- tional d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, hereafter MNHN) and involved sampling of Gor- ringe, Josephine, Ampère, Lion, and Seine seamounts (65 dredge hauls and 15 beam trawl operations on the Lusitanian seamounts; 11 dredge hauls and 1 beam trawl op- eration on Galicia bank; see Bouchet and Métivier, 1988). Seamount 2 was conducted in January/February 1993 by the second author and involved sampling of the Great Meteor, Hyères, Irving (including Cruiser), Plato, Atlantis, and Tyro seamounts (69 dredge hauls and 16 beam trawl operations shallower than 1000 m, see Gofas, 1993). We also examined material collected in 1971 by the Biaçores expedition, conducted around the Azores under the direction of J. Forest (MNHN), and a small collection (leg. H. Zibrowius) from the slope of Madeira from the Zarco expedition of R/V Jean Charcot in 1966 . e locations of the general collecting sites are shown on Figure 1 and the details of locality coordinates given with material examined. e material of the Seamount expeditions was sorted to the species level, on board for the coarser fraction and later at the lab down to the 0.5 mm mesh. e largest