Spiriferina sophiaealbae Macfarlan 2023, new species
Creators: name: Macfarlan, Donald Alexander Bankier
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Brachiopoda
Rhynchonellata
Spiriferinidae
Spiriferina
Spiriferina sophiaealbae

description: Spiriferina sophiaealbae new species
Fig. 8B, Fig. 9: 1–12.
1992 “ Spiriferina ” cf. muensteri (Davidson); Damborenea & Manceñido p. 139, pl. 2 fig. 11–14.
2009 “ Spiriferina ” cf. muensteri (Davidson, 1851); MacFarlan et al. p. 266.
Holotype. AU B725, a double-valved internal mould from R16 /f8821, AU 4395, exposure in stream above lowest hairpin bend in Pomarangai Road, Marokopa. Collected by D. Pryor, J.A. Grant-Mackie and the author, 10 February 1973.
Derivation of name. This species is named for Sophie White of the Geology Department, University of Otago, who has helped me on successive visits to Dunedin.
Material. A total of 21 specimens from eight collections were catalogued. 14 specimens yielded valid measurements.
Kawhia Syncline. Te Maika Peninsula: R 15/f8005 Dactylioceras band (AU 614), R 15/f8575 (AU 9209) R 15/ f8686 (AU 604), R 15/f8816 (AU 14811). Marokopa R 16/f8821 (AU 4395).
Southland Syncline. Otapiri Valley: E45/f9860 Conical Hill (JDC 1837), E45/f085 Heale Ridge (McF E49), Otamita Valley: F45/f8683 (JDC 1393).
Description. Small, strongly costate spiriferinide with high ventral umbo, wider than long. Most specimens with ventral valve 4–7.5 mm long, 7–14 mm wide. Hingeline straight, with maximum width close to hinge, lateral and anterior margins convex.
Dorsal valve slightly to moderately, but evenly convex. Ventral valve with high, sharply pointed apex. Interarea concave, delthyrium narrow, open. Each valve with three or four strong triangular costae on each flank, with narrow crests and troughs, crossed by a few foliaceous growth lamellae and finer growth lines. Widely spaced spines of crescentic section, generally close to the crests of the costae, are visible on a few specimens (Fig. 8B). Punctae fine, poorly shown or not seen on most specimens.
Internal Characters Dorsal valve with broad, thin posteriorly projecting concave hinge plates, narrow, close-set sockets, small cardinal process (Fig. 9.10). Ventral valve with median septum about half valve length, short dental plates (Fig. 9.3, 9.11).
Dimensions. Dimensions of the holotype and other representative specimens, and statistics for specimens from the Kawhia and Southland Synclines with valid measurements are shown in Table 2.
Range and distribution. Lower Aratauran to Ururoan. The earliest record is Middle Hettangian, from F45/ f8683, Coneburn, Otamita Valley. It is present in the Lower Ururoan of Conical Hill, Otapiri Gorge, and in several North Island Upper Ururoan localities, including the Dactylioceras bed at Kawhia.
Remarks. This species was first noted and figured by Damborenea & Manceñido (1992) from the earliest Ururoan (Pliensbachian) of Southland as Spiriferina cf. muensteri. They compared the New Zealand specimens with similar but larger specimens from the Pliensbachian of Argentina.
S. muensteri (Davidson, 1851) is widely distributed in Europe and North Africa (Alméras and Cougnon 2013). It is generally larger than the New Zealand species, with blunter costae and a more posteriorly directed beak in the dorsal valve.
In shape and size the new species resembles the strongly costate Suessia dissymetrica Revert, 1971. However, that species is described by Revert as asymmetric and impunctate, and his description makes no mention of spines.
description: Published as part of Macfarlan, Donald Alexander Bankier, 2023, Latest Triassic and Early Jurassic Spiriferinida (Brachiopoda) of Zealandia (New Zealand and New Caledonia), pp. 1-58 in Zootaxa 5277 (1) on pages 11-14, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5277.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/7891491