Strombidae Rafinesque, 1815

Harzhauser, Mathias & Kronenberg, Gijs C., 2013, The Neogene strombid gastropod Persististrombus in the Paratethys Sea, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 58 (4), pp. 785-802 : 788

Family Strombidae Rafinesque, 1815 Genus Persististrombus Kronenberg and Lee, 2007

Type species: Strombus granulatus Swainson, 1822 ; Recent , Panamic Faunal Province .

Persististrombus nodosus ( Borson, 1820) comb. nov. Fig. 4A–C .

1820 Mitra Nodosa nobis; Borson 1820: 208, pl. 1: 9.

1823 Str. Bonelli A. B.; Brongniart 1823: 74, pl. 6: 6a, 6b.

1825 S. Bonelli ; Basterot 1825: 69.

1847 Str. Bonelli Al. Br. ; Grateloup 1847: pl. 32: 12.

1847 Str. lentiginosus Lin. ; Grateloup 1847: pl. 32: 16 (non Strombus lentiginosus Linnaeus, 1758 ).

1893 Strombus nodosus (Bors) ; Sacco 1893: 4.

1923 Strombus (Canarium) Bonellii Brongniart ; Cossmann and Peyrot 1923: 326, pl. 8: 1–4, 10.

1984 Strombus nodosus var. mediocanaliculata Sacco ; Fererro−Mortara et al. 1984: 138, pl. 22: 1a, 1b.

1986 Strombus bonellii Brongniart, 1825 (sic!); Lozouet and Maestrati 1986: 12, figs. J–K.

2001 Strombus bonellii Brongniart, 1823 ; Lozouet et al. 2001a: 37, pl. 15: 1 °, b (cum syn.).

Material.— Eight specimens from the Early Miocene of France ( Corbicu Moulin−de−Cerreau , St. Paul−de−Dax Cabanes , Saucats, Pelona; collections: NHMW, Naturalis.

Description.— Persististrombus nodosus is a quite polymorphic species. Generally, it is slender with high spire with an apical angle of c. 50 ° and spire whorls with strong nodes or spines. The last whorl and especially the sutural ramp bear spiral ribs, which vary considerably in number and strength. A very characteristic feature is the somewhat crumpled surface of the last whorl. Another typical feature is a slightly concave area on the last whorl below the shoulder nodes. This concavity passes into the wing, which is rather straight sided or may even be slightly concave in the middle part.

Remarks.—The high spire with the rather narrow apical angle, the spire whorls, which are undercut by the sutures and the crumpled appearance of the last whorl are highly reminiscent of the extant P. granulatus ( Swainson, 1822) . Both features are untypical for Middle Miocene shells of P. inflexus ( Eichwald, 1830) . In ventral view, the rather narrow wing of P. nodosus has a nearly straight margin whilst P. inflexus develops a convex margin and thickened outer lip.

Borson’s (1820: pl. 1: 9) original illustration shows obviously a juvenile strombid, erroneously allocated to Mitra . Prior to Borson’s Strombus nodosus , the name had been used by Röding (1798: 100, species 1287). Röding’s (1798) name appeared without a reference and is to be considered as a nomen nudum and thus unavailable. Also, to our knowledge, Röding’s name has not been used since its introduction, and is therefore, a nomen oblitum. Pavia (1976) did not locate the specimen during his revision of the Borson collection and therefore he considered Mitra nodosa a nomen oblitum. The absence of type specimens, however, is not a justification for Pavia’s (1976) action. Moreover, Strombus nodosus ( Borson, 1820) had been used as a valid name of a strombid, e.g., by Collignon and Cottreau (1927) and Noszky (1940). Therefore, Strombus nodosus ( Borson, 1820) , cannot be considered a nomen oblitum. Much more recently, Nikolov (1993) used the name Strombus nodosus in the combination Strombus (Strombus) nodosus subcancellata (Grateloup, 1843?) [sic!].

The name Strombus bonelli [sic!], introduced by Brongniart (1823), has been used to denote this species. Sacco (1893) emended the ending to S. bonellii in his synonymy list of Strombus nodosus . Although the synonymy of S. nodosus ( Borson, 1820) with S. bonelli is widely accepted, as we do also, we cannot rule out the possibility that future research may reveal that S. bonelli is distinct from S. nodosus . Therefore, it is important to note that Sacco’s (1893) emendation, although subsequently widely used, is an incorrect subsequent spelling according to ICZN (1999: article 33.4)

Numerous subspecies and variations have been affiliated with Persististrombus nodosus by Sacco (1893) and Cossmann and Peyrot (1923). These Aquitanian and mainly Burdigalian taxa from the Aquitaine and the Colli Torinesi are largely conspecific with P. nodosus . Exceptions are “ Strombus ” intermedius Grateloup, 1834—a relatively small sized species with strongly sculptured last whorl and distinct inner lip, that is probably a Persististrombus and “ Strombus ” mitroparvus Sacco, 1893, (see Lozouet et al. 2001b for illustrations) that may be ancestral to the Western Pacific “ Strombus ” micklei Ladd, 1972 and “ Strombus ” blanci Tröndle and Salvat, 2010 .

Stratigraphical and geographical range.—Unequivocal representatives of Persististrombus nodosus are known from the Early Miocene of France and Italy. Additional occurrences of poorly preserved specimens are reported from the Burdigalian of Turkey, Greece and the Iranian Qom Basin (Harzhauser et al. 2002). Reports of Strombus nodosus from the Miocene of Madagascar in Collignon and Cottreau (1927) are dubious. These specimens might rather be related to Persististrombus deperditus ( Sowerby, 1840) or Persististrombus kronenbergi Harzhauser, 2009 .

Figures

Fig. 4. Miocene–Pliocene strombid gastropods from Europe. A–C. Persististrombus nodosus (Borson, 1820) from the Burdigalian (Early Miocene). A. NHMW1911/0006/0290, Pelona, France. B. NHMW 2013/0299/001, Saucats, France. C. NHMW1851/0017/0116; Colli Torinesi, Italy. D. Persististrombus praecedens (Schaffer, 1912) from the Burdigalian of Loibersdorf in Lower Austria, NHMW1866/0011/0004. E. Persististrombus coronatus (Defrance, 1827) from the Pliocene of Tresanti in Italy, NHMW A2588. Dorsal (A1–E1), ventral (A2–E2), lateral (A3–E3), and apical (A4–E4) views. Scale bars 10 mm.