Cirsonella romettensis (Granata-Grillo, 1877)

Fig. 12 e–g

Oxystele romettensis Granata-Grillo, 1877 (p. 7).

Tharsis romettensis Seguenza—Jeffreys 1883 [b] (p. 93, pl. 19, fig. 7).

Cirsonella romettensis (Granata, 1877) —Warén 1991[a] (p. 160, figs. 4C, 9E, 11C–E, 12A).

Cirsonella romettensis (Seguenza G., 1873) — Giannuzzi-Savelli et al. 1994 (p. 106, fig. 350); Repetto et al. 2005 (p. 91, top right fig.).

Cirsonella romettensis (Granata-Grillo, 1877) — Beck et al. 2006 (p. 48, mid fig.).

Diagnostic characters. Globose-conoidal shell; moderately low spire; circular and slightly prosocline aperture; thick parietal callus often closing the umbilical chink; smooth and glossy outer surface. Protoconch: very low conical; 1.25 whorls; diameter about 260 µm; surface finely granulated; transition to the teleoconch marked by a thin, slightly everted lip.

Occurrence. Core BC67 (1 specimen). Height: 2 mm.

Distribution and habitat. Cirsonella romettensis is a NE Atlantic (as far South as the Azores) and Mediterranean species; it is a stenobathic element living on small hard substrates in the 100–1000 m depth interval, being commonly recovered from present-day Gryphus vitreus bottoms (Dautzenberg 1889; Corselli & Bernocchi 1988; Warén 1991[a]). It was regarded as an element of CB (deep-sea white corals) biocoenosis (Di Geronimo et al. 1982).

Fossil record. Pliocene and Pleistocene of Italy (Warén 1991[a]; Di Geronimo & La Perna 1997; Di Geronimo et al. 1997; Di Geronimo et al. 1982; Di Geronimo et al. 2005).