Scaphopod species (Mollusca) of the Turkish Levantine and Aegean seas

An examination of benthic material collected from different depths (0-875 m) and habitats along the Turkish Levantine and Aegean seas between 1996 and 2008 has resulted in the identification of 819 scaphopod specimens, belonging to 10 species: Antalis dentalis (Linneaus, 1758), Antalis inaequicostata (Dautzenberg, 1891), Antalis panorma (Chenu, 1843), Antalis rossati (Caprotti, 1966), Antalis vulgaris (da Costa, 1778), Fustiaria rubescens (Deshayes, 1825), Entalina tetragona (Brocchi, 1814), Pulsellum lofotense (M. Sars, 1865), Cadulus jeffreysi (Monterosato, 1875), and Dischides politus (S. Wood, 1842). Of these, P. lofotense and C. jeffreysi are new records for the Aegean molluscan fauna and A. panorma and F. rubescens are new to the Levantine coast of Turkey. Of the identified species, A. inaequicostata was the most widely distributed along the Turkish coast, whereas C. jeffreysi was the rarest, and was encountered in only 2 places. Entalina tetragona was significant as the deepest living species, sampled from depths between 96 and 875 m. Some ecological characteristics and taxonomic remarks, with colour photographs of the identified species, are provided.