A total of fifteen species of Spondylus are recorded from the Middle East and adjacent regions. From the Indo-West-Pacific area the species include eight from the Red Sea, three from the Gulf of Aden, three from the Persian Gulf, two from Pakistan and two from deep water off Somalia. Two species were originally living in the Mediterranean Sea. Also three species originating from the Indo-West-Pacific are now also found in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, one of them only known from a single valve. Two new species are described, Spondylus smytheae from the Red Sea and Solomon Islands and Spondylus pickeringae from the Red Sea. Spondylus groschi Lamprell & Kilburn, 1995, recently named from Mozambique, is shown to extend in geographical range to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Spondylus coccineus Lamarck, 1819 and Spondylus punicus Bernard et al., 1993 are placed in the synonymy of Spondylus limbatus Sowerby, 1847. |