Conus (Lautoconus), 1923

Psarras, Christos, Merle, Didier & Koskeridou, Efterpi, 2022, Late Miocene Conidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of Crete (Greece). Part 2, European Journal of Taxonomy 816, pp. 1-70 : 31-34

Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 5

Figs 18–20 , 40J ; Table 10

Conus clavatulus – Davoli 1972: pl.4 figs 15–16 (non figs 5, 17 = Conus davolii sp. nov.) (non Conus clavatulus d’Orbigny, 1852 ).

Material examined

GREECE – Crete • 1 spec.; Filippi; Messara Basin, Tortonian ; 35.035° N, 25.250° E; AMPG ( IV) 3861 .

Shell description

Moderately small (SL max.: 26.93 mm), biconical shell. Spire conical, straight. Early spire whorls straight to concave. Later spire whorls straight to convex, smooth. Suture moderately incised, undulated. Subsutural flexure very shallow, weakly curved, moderately asymmetrical ( Fig. 40J ). Last spire whorl with broad, straight to convex sutural ramp, continuing into smooth to subangulated shoulder and down to squished, rather sigmoidal last whorl. Maximum diameter right below shoulder. Aperture narrow, widening abapically. Siphonal canal long, straight. Fasciole indistinct. Faint spiral cords on quarter anterior part of last whorl.

Description of colour pattern

The colour pattern on the spire whorls consists of fluorescent irregular blotches and, inside those, randomly positioned, non-fluorescent tents. The tents continue until shoulder height. The colour pattern on the last whorl consists of two levels of pigmentation. The first pattern consists of amorphous, fluorescent blotches, disrupted by non-fluorescent tents. The second pattern consists of discontinuous, evenly distanced, spiral lines. The spiral lines are a series of alterations of fluorescent dots-dashes and non-fluorescent dashes. The second pattern, when overlapping the non-fluorescent tent level, displays only the fluorescent dots-dashes of the continuous spiral lines ( Fig. 19 ).

Remarks

This species comprises only one specimen, partly broken ( Table 10). Its biconical morphology is unique in the Greek collection. It could be compared with those studied by Davoli (1972) and named as? Conus clavatulus d’Orbigny, 1852 (MOD n°5569 bis and MOD n°5610). These specimens have not been studied under UV light; therefore, we place them within Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 5. The specimen (AMPG(IV) 3861) is similar to several species of Conus described from the Paratethys, discussed in Harzhauser & Landau (2016) as Leporiconus Iredale, 1930. This species differs from the Conus (Leporiconus) in lacking tubercles on the early spire whorls. Also, the shell is smooth, except for the faint spiral cords near the anterior part of the shell. For this reason, we prefer placing it into Conus (Lautoconus) . The specimen has a morphology similar to Conus mucronatolaevis var. permamillata Sacco, 1893 ( Sacco 1893b: pl. 6 fig. 33). Harzhauser & Landau (2016: fig. 35j) noticed that its colour pattern consists of a series of closely positioned lines of dots, a pattern very different from the Cretan material. Chelyconus spongiopictus Sacco, 1893 ( Sacco 1893b: pl. 10 fig. 16) has a morphology of similar outline, but lacks the subangulated shoulder of the studied species. The colour pattern of irregular blotches and spiral lines of dots is similar to that of Conus (Stephanoconus) cf. taurinensis Bellardi & Michelotti, 1841 . They are easily differentiated by the pyriform morphology of this specimen, with no tubercles and a not so inflated shoulder.

Stratigraphic range

?Tortonian of Italy from Montegibbio ( Davoli 1972) and Greece (Messara Basin, Crete).

Concluding remarks about Conus (Lautoconus)

Two species, Conus (Lautoconus) eschewegi Pereira da Costa 1866 and Conus (Lautoconus) lauriatragei sp. nov., are mentioned in the Paratethys and mainly from the Pannonian Basin. Eight species, Conus (Lautoconus) eschewegi Pereira da Costa 1866 , Conus (Lautoconus) ictini sp. nov., Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 2, Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 3, Conus (Lautoconus) cf. baldichieri , Conus (Lautoconus) damianakisi sp. nov., Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 4 and Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 5 are present in the Proto-Mediterranean (see Table 18 ). Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 1 is a species found only in Crete. Finally, this species assemblage suggests a much stronger relationship with the Proto-Mediterranean faunas than with the Paratethyan faunas.

The PCA graph ( Fig. 20 ) shows that the species are morphologically similar and point out the necessity of the colour patterns as an extra characteristic for their identification ( Psarras et al. 2021).

Figures

Fig. 18. Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 5, specimen from the Tortonian of Filippi, Crete (Greece), shown under natural (A1, A4, A7–A8) and UV light. A. Specimen AMPG(IV) 3861, Filippi: notice the shallow subsutural flexure in A8. Scale bars = 1 cm.

Fig. 19. Colour pattern elements of Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 5 from the Tortonian of Filippi, Crete (Greece). A5. Specimen AMPG(IV) 3861, on abapertural view. Scale bar = 1 cm.

Fig. 20. PCA graph with nine species of Conus (Lautoconus) found in late Miocene localities of Crete (Greece). Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 1 is broken and cannot be included in the graph. Yellow dots = Conus (Lautoconus) eschewegi (Pereira da Costa, 1866); grey dots = Conus (Lautoconus) ictini sp. nov.; red dots = Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 2; blue dot = Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 3; black dot = Conus (Lautoconus) lauriatragei sp. nov.; brown dots = Conus (Lautoconus) damianakisi sp. nov.; purple dot = Conus (Lautoconus) cf. baldichieri Borson, 1820; green dots = Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 4; light blue dot = Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 5. Abbreviations: LW = length width ratio; PMD = position of maximum diameter; RD = relative diameter; RSH = relative height of spire.

Fig. 40. Examples of subsutural flexures. A. Conus (Lautoconus) eschewegi Pereira da Costa, 1866 (MNHN.F.A82976). B. Conus (Lautoconus) ictini sp. nov. (AMPG(IV) 3719). C. Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 1 (MNHN.F.A82982). D. Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 2 (AMPG(IV) 3756). E. Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 3 (MNHN.F.A83012). F. Conus (Lautoconus) cf. baldichieri Borson, 1820 (MNHN.F.A83013). G. Conus (Lautoconus) lauriatragei sp. nov. (MNHN.F.A83014). H. Conus (Lautoconus) damianakisi sp. nov. (AMPG(IV) 3802). I. Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 4 (MNHN.F.A83015). J. Conus (Lautoconus) sp. 5 (AMPG(IV) 3861). K. Conus (Stephanoconus) cf. taurinensis Bellardi & Michelotti, 1841 (AMPG(IV) 3808). L. Conus (Stephanoconus) moissettei sp. nov. (MNHN.F.A83071). M. Conus davolii sp. nov. (MNHN.F.A83091). N. Conus fuscocingulatus Hörnes, 1851 (AMPG(IV) 3858). O. Conus (Plagioconus) elatus Michelotti, 1847 (AMPG(IV) 3862). P. Conus (Plagioconus) sp. (AMPG(IV) 3890). Q. Conus (Plagioconus) sp. (AMPG(IV) 3898). R. Conus (Plagioconus) aquensis d’Orbigny, 1852 (AMPG(IV) 3907). Not to scale.