The genus Volvarina (Gastropoda: Marginellidae) in Polynesia

Volvarina paumotensis (Pease, 1868), a Tuamotu Archipelago endemic species is studied with reference to its original description, and from living populations recently discovered on several atolls in the type locality. Two species of Volvarina discovered in Suwarrow, Northern Cook Islands, are studied. One of these is identified as being the previously described V. elliptica (Redfield, 1870), which has until now been considered as a species endemic to Fanning Island in the Line Islands (Kiribati). Additional records of shells from New Ireland and several Indonesian locations that have been provisionally identified by the authors as V. elliptica are given and it is cautiously suggested that the range of this species is extended to include these localities. The animal and shell of the second species, V. nealei n. sp. are described and illustrated from a Suwarrow population discovered in an unusual micro-habitat associated with small brain corals in shallow water.