Steromphala cineraria (Linnaeus, 1758) (Fig. 4H 1-H 3, I 1-I 3)

Trochus cinerarius Linnaeus, 1758: 758 .

? non Trochus cinerarius – Wood 1848: 131, pl. 14, fig. 7.

Trochus (Gibbula) cinerarius – Harmer 1923: 731 (partim, not pl. 58, figs 25, 26) (Upper Pleistocene records only).

Gibbula cineraria – Pouwer & Wesselingh 2012: 151, figs 1-3. — Alf et al. 2020: 70, pl. 50.

Steromphala cineraria – Affenzeller et al. 2017: 804, fig. 5.

MATERIAL AND DIMENSIONS. — Maximum height 12.7 mm, width 12.4 mm. — RGM.1364902 (64), leg. WG; RGM.1364968 (125), leg. ACJ; RGM.1365177 (1), leg. ACJ; RGM.1310831 (1), leg. ACJ; RGM.1365066 (146), leg. AWJ .

SPECIES CHARACTERISATION. — Shell low trochiform; five weakly shouldered teleoconch whorls separated by narrowly impressed suture; sculpture of numerous, fine, irregular spiral cords; axial sculpture reduced to prosocline growth-lines; base depressed bearing numerous concentric cords; umbilicus well developed, moderately narrow and deep; columella short, straight, oblique; colour pattern of red-orange zigzag flammules preserved in all specimens.

DISTRIBUTION. — (Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene: NSB and Irish Sea [Wood 1848; Harmer 1923] likely based on misidentifications [Pouwer & Wesselingh 2012]). Lower Pleistocene: Atlantic, Selsoif, France (this paper). Upper Pleistocene: British Isles (Harmer 1923). — Holocene: NSB (Strand Petersen 2004).Today this species is predominantly found in cooler waters in the NSB and along the European Atlantic coasts North Norway, Iceland to Gibraltar (Fretter & Graham 1977) and adjacent western Mediterranean (Giannuzzi-Savelli et al. 1994). Records south of Gibraltar in the Atlantic and into the Mediterranean, such as southManousis (2021), need to be confirmed.

REMARKS

Based on molecular data, this species is now placed in the genus Steromphala Gray, 1847 (Affenzeller et al. 2017). Most specimens from Selsoif are small and depressed (Fig. 4I 1-I 3). One large, gerontic specimen (Fig. 4H 1-H 3) is taller spired, with more strongly shouldered whorls, the shoulder marked by two slightly strengthened cords. In general, the Selsoif specimens have slightly more shouldered whorls than extant specimens, but we consider them conspecific.