Vexillum transalpinum Harzhauser & Landau 2021, nov. sp.
Creators: name: Harzhauser, Mathias
name: Landau, Bernard
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Neogastropoda
Costellariidae
Vexillum
Vexillum transalpinum

description: Vexillum transalpinum nov. sp.
Figs 19I 1 –I 2, J 1 –J 2, K 1 –K 2, L 1 –L 2
Mitra pyramidella Brocc. — Hörnes 1852b: 107, pl. 10, fig. 29 [non Brocchi, 1814].
[Costellaria] plicatula Brocc. —Hoernes 1880: 125 [non Brocchi, 1814].
Mitra (Costellaria) plicatula Brocc. — Hoernes & Auinger 1880: 84 [non Brocchi, 1814].
Turricula plicatula Brocc. — Friedberg 1911: 28, pl. 1, fig. 20 [non Brocchi, 1814].
V [exillum]. (C [ostellaria].) plicatulum (Brocchi) — Sieber 1958a: 153 [non Brocchi, 1814].
? Vexillum (Costellaria) plicatulum (Brocchi) — Csepreghy-Meznerics 1954: 45, pl. 5, fig. 26 [non Brocchi, 1814].
Vexillum (Costellaria) plicatulum (Brocc.) — Sieber 1958b: 149 [non Brocchi, 1814].
Mitra (Vexilum) [sic] plicatula Brocchi — Tiţă 2007: 548 [non Brocchi, 1814].
? Mitra (Vexillum) aff. plicatula Brocchi, 1814 — Strausz 1966: 368, pl. 26, figs 1–2.
Pusia pyramidella (Brocchi, 1814) — Landau et al. 2013: 215, pl. 34, figs 7–9, pl. 68, fig. 9 [non Brocchi, 1814].
Type material. Holotype: NHMW 1846 /0037/0106, Steinebrunn (Austria), SL: 19.1 mm, MD: 6.3 mm, illustrated in Hörnes (1852b, pl. 10 figs 29a–b), figs 19I 1 –I 2. Paratypes: NHMW 2020 /0094/0001, SL: 16.1 mm, MD: 5.7 mm, Lăpugiu de Sus (Romania); figs 19J 1 –J 2; NHMW 2020 /0095/0001, SL: 19.3 mm, MD: 6.3 mm, Steinebrunn (Austria); figs 19L 1 –L 2; NHMW 2020 /0096/0001, SL: 19.1 mm, MD: 5.9 mm, Niederleis (Austria); figs 19K 1 –K 2.
Additional material. NHMW 1860 /0001/0109, Steinebrunn (Austria); NHMW 1860 /0001/0109, 36 specimens, Steinebrunn (Austria); NHMW 1865 /0001/0693, Baden (Austria); NHMW 1869 /0001/0440, Forchtenau (Austria)
NHMW 1868 /0001/0080, Möllersdorf (Austria); NHMW 1847 /0037/0046, Rohrbach bei Mattersburg (Austria); NHMW 2020 /0096/0002, 6 specimens, Niederleis (Austria); NHMW 1867 /0019/0042, 4 specimens, Coşteiu de Sus (Romania); NHMW 1868 /0001/0406, 38 specimens, Lăpugiu de Sus (Romania); NHMW 1863 /0015/0070, Bujtur (Romania).
Type locality. Steinebrunn (Austria).
Type stratum. Silty sand of the Baden Formation.
Age. Middle Miocene, Badenian (Langhian).
Etymology. Latin transalpinum, meaning beyond the Alps seen from Rome, referring to the paleogeographic occurrence of the new species.
Diagnosis. Vexillum species of large size, slender to moderately slender profile, with conical, weakly gradate spire, multispiral protoconch, dense axial sculpture on early teleoconch whorls, wider spaced abapically, sharp crested or convex orthocline to opisthocline axial ribs on penultimate and last whorls.
Description. Shell large, solid, slender to moderately slender fusiform, with moderately high conical spire; early spire weakly gradate. Protoconch multispiral, high conical, of 3.5 convex whorls (height: 990 μm, diameter: 750 μm). Teleoconch of seven weakly convex to subcylindrical whorls, separated by impressed suture. Axial sculpture on early teleoconch whorls of broad, convex, orthocline to opisthocyrt axial ribs separated by narrow interspaces (about 11 axial ribs on first teleoconch whorl). Axial ribs and interspaces usually distinctly widening during ontogeny, ribs becoming sharp-crested. No spiral sculpture, except for about five indistinct spiral cords on weak fasciole, subobsolete in most specimens. Last whorl moderately convex, constricted at base. Aperture elongate, moderately narrow, with faint anal canal. Parietal region slightly thickened in many specimens. Columellar callus indistinct. Columella with four oblique folds, weakening abapically. Outer lip thin, with about ten lirae within. Siphonal canal moderately short, slightly bent to left, with wide, shallow siphonal notch.
Shell measurements and ratios. SL: 14.8–22.0 mm, MD: 4.2–7.0 mm; AA: 30–38°, SL/MD: 2.9–3.2, AL/AW: 3.7–4.5, AH/S: 2.1–2.9.
Discussion. This species was confused with the Pliocene proto-Mediterranean Vexillum pyramidellum (Brocchi, 1814) by all authors describing middle Miocene Paratethyan faunas [note that Vexillum plicatulum (Brocchi, 1814) is a subjective synonym of V. pyramidellum (Brocchi, 1814) (Della Bella & Tabanelli 1995; Landau et al. 2013)].
Like Vexillum pyramidellum, V. transalpinum is variable in having a more-or-less slender outline and sharply crested axial ribs. The number of axial ribs on the penultimate and last whorls is variable ranging from prominent, densely set axial ribs (rare) to wide-spaced ones. Nevertheless, the axial sculpture is never completely reduced on penultimate and last whorls, as is typical for the Pliocene specimens of Vexillum pyramidellum (Brocchi, 1814), as described and illustrated by Bellardi (1887b), Cerulli-Irelli, S. (1911), Rossi-Ronchetti (1955), Malatesta (1974), Pinna & Spezia (1978) and Chirli (2002). Vexillum intermittens (Hoernes & Auinger, 1880) is reminiscent of V. transalpinum, but is distinguished by its more slender outline, higher spire and opisthocline axial ribs on early teleoconch whorls.
Palaeoenvironment. The species is abundant in inner neritic and middle neritic depositional environments and is found in sandy-silty nearshore deposits and in basinal clay.
Distribution in Central Paratethys. Badenian (middle Miocene): Vienna Basin: Niederleis, Baden, Möllersdorf, Steinebrunn (Hoernes & Auinger 1880; Sieber 1958b); Eisenstadt-Sopron Basin: Mattersburg (Austria) (Hörnes 1852b);? Pannonian Basin: Sámsonháza (Hungary) (Csepreghy-Meznerics 1954); Făget Basin: Lăpugiu de Sus, Coşteiu de Sus, Bujtur (Romania); Southern Carpathians: Bahna (Romania) (Tiţă 2007).
Proto-Mediterranean Sea. Serravallian (middle Miocene): Karman Basin: Lale, Akboðaz, Akpýnar, Tavþanlý (Turkey) (Landau et al. 2013).
description: Published as part of Harzhauser, Mathias & Landau, Bernard, 2021, An overlooked diversity-the Costellariidae (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda) of the Miocene Paratethys Sea, pp. 1-70 in Zootaxa 4982 (1) on pages 54-56, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4982.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4921842