Episcomitra cochlearella Harzhauser & Landau 2021, nov. comb.
Creators: name: Harzhauser, Mathias
name: Landau, Bernard
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Neogastropoda
Mitridae
Episcomitra
Episcomitra cochlearella

description: Episcomitra cochlearella (Mayer-Eymar, 1890) nov. comb.
Figs 3D 1 –D 2, E 1 –E 2
* Mitra cochlearella May.-Eym.— Mayer-Eymar 1890: 298.
Mitra cochlearella Mayer-Eymar — Mayer-Eymar 1891: 337, pl. 10, fig. 5.
? Mitra (Mitra) cf. amissa Bell.— Boettger 1906: 7.
Ziba cochlearella (Mayer-Eymar 1891) — Cernohorsky 1991; 84, fig. 3.
Type material. Lectotype (designated herein): Illustrated in Mayer-Eymar (1891, pl. 10, fig. 5), SL: 25.1 mm, MD: 9.1 mm, Lăpugiu de Sus (Romania), stored in the collection of the Naturhistorisches Museum Basel (Switzerland) (Inv. Nr. t3238), figs 3D 1 –D 2. Paralectotype: SL: 19.2 mm, MD: 7.0 mm, Lăpugiu de Sus (Romania), stored in the collection of the Naturhistorisches Museum Basel (Switzerland) (Inv. Nr. t3238), figs 3E 1 –E 2.
Revised description. Shell medium sized, moderately slender to moderately broad fusiform with conical to faintly cyrtoconoid spire and narrowly impressed suture. Protoconch unknown. Teleoconch of at least seven whorls. Early teleoconch whorls straight sided, conical, with periphery at abapical suture. Sculpture on first preserved teleoconch whorl of five convex spiral cords separated by narrow, slightly punctate spiral grooves. Later teleoconch whorls weakly convex; spiral cords flattening and weakening on subsequent two whorls, increasing in number by intercalations of indistinct, shallow secondary spiral grooves. Spiral sculpture subobsolete on penultimate and last whorls, being most prominent in subsutural area. Last whorl nearly straight-sided above moderately convex periphery, constricted at base with deep basal concavity. Periphery below adapical termination of aperture. Few spiral cords on base and fasciole. Aperture ovoid, moderately wide to wide with narrowly incised anal canal. Columellar callus thickened, sharply delimited. Columella with three prominent, oblique columellar folds; fourth abapical fold relatively weak. Outer lip thin. Siphonal canal moderately short, wide, straight, with shallow siphonal notch.
Shell measurements and ratios. SL = 19.1–25.1 mm, MD: 7.0– 9.1 mm, AA = 31–34°, SL/ MD: 2.8–3.1, AL/ AW: 4.1–3.9, AH/S: 2.6–2.7.
Discussion. Episcomitra cochlearella (Mayer-Eymar, 1890) is characterised by its broad bullet-shaped outline and constricted base. Episcomitra multistriata Bellardi, 1887, from the early Miocene of the Colli Torinesi, is similar, but has a slightly broader shell and the periphery of the last whorl is more convex and higher placed (see Ferrero-Mortara et al. 1981, pl. 44, figs 8a–b). Cernohorsky (1991) placed E. cochlearella in the genus Ziba H. & A. Adams, 1853, based on the illustration in Mayer-Eymar (1891), which shows a shell with gradate spire, subcylindrical whorls and pronounced spiral cords. The two specimens labelled as Mitra cochlearella in the collection Mayer-Eymar in the Naturhistorisches Museum Basel (Switzerland) (Inv. Nr. t3238) differ considerably from the illustration in their conical spires and much weaker spiral sculpture. The labels were written by Karl Mayer-Eymar himself (pers. comm. Sergio Kühni, Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, 2 nd July 2020) and the German word ‘Original’ (meaning “ type ” in this context) is written on the labels. Therefore, a substitution or misplacement of specimens can be excluded. Moreover, many of the illustrations in Mayer-Eymar were also embellished and missing parts completed.
It is difficult to characterise this species in detail based on the abraded and incomplete material available. Some of the species described from the Italian Neogene bear some resemblance with a deep basal concavity, such as E. graviuscula (Bellardi, 1887), E. contorta (Bellardi, 1887), and E. turris (Bellardi, 1887), all Miocene species, but these seem to lack the spiral sculpture on the early spire whorls seen in E. cochlearella.
Palaeoenvironment. Unknown.
Distribution in Central Paratethys. Badenian (middle Miocene): Făget Basin: Lăpugiu de Sus (Romania) (Mayer-Eymar 1890).
description: Published as part of Harzhauser, Mathias & Landau, Bernard, 2021, The Mitridae (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda) of the Miocene Paratethys Sea, pp. 1-72 in Zootaxa 4983 (3) on pages 11-12, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4983.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4921887