A new species of wood-boring bivalve (Mollusca: Xylophagaidae) from the Eastern Arabian Sea

A new species of wood-boring bivalve Xylophaga nandani sp. nov. is described based on material obtained from floating woods collected with a bongo net on the eastern Arabian Sea. The new species is morphologically closest to the members of the genus Xylophaga sensu stricto (cf. “Clade 4” of Romano et al. 2020 ), and can be distinguished from all of them by a combination of morphological characters, such as the laterally pointed, triangular mesoplax; siphon with a simple row of large, coarse papillae placed immediately next to the furrow on the lateral incurrent siphon; and an oval concentration of numerous white cone-shaped granules with pointed, slightly curved tips on lateral siphon distal to excurrent opening. Additionally, previous records of species of the family Xylophagaidae Purchon, 1941 from the Indian Ocean and neighboring areas were discussed here. In conclusion, some of these records are doubtful, and some of these species require a taxonomic revision.