Plagioconus
Creators: name: Harzhauser, Mathias
name: Landau, Bernard
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Neogastropoda
Conidae
Plagioconus

description: Plagioconus puschi (Michelotti, 1847)
Figs 30 J, 33A1–A3, 33B1–B3, 33C1–C3
Conus Puschi mihi—Michelotti 1847: 340, pl. 14, fig. 6.
Conus Puschi Micht. —Hörnes 1851: 35, pl. 4, figs 6 – 7.
Conus Haueri Partsch—Hörnes 1851: 34 (partim), pl. 4, fig. 5.
[Conus (Leptoconus) elatus] var. haueriana Sacc. — Sacco 1893a: 35 [nov. nom pro Conus haueri in Hörnes 1851, pl. 4, fig. 5].
[Conus (Chelyconus)] Puschi] var. postica Sacc. — Sacco 1893b: 60 [nov. nom. pro Conus Puschi in Hörnes 1851, pl. 4, fig. 6].
[Conus (Chelyconus)] Puschi] var. sulcopostica Sacc. — Sacco 1893b: 60 [nov. nom. pro Conus Puschi in Hörnes 1851, pl. 4, fig. 7, erroneously given as fig. 5 by Sacco 1893].
Conus (Chelyconus) puschi Micht. — Csepreghy-Meznerics 1956: 419, pl. 10, figs 3 – 4.
Conus (Chelyconus) puschi Michelotti—Pavlovsky 1957: 53, pl. 2, figs 5a–b.
Conus (Chelyconus) puschi Michelotti—Strausz 1962: 144, pl. 70, figs 2–4.
? Conus (Chelyconus) puschi Michelotti—Atanacković 1963: 78, pl. 15, figs 5–5a.
Conus (Chelyconus) puschi Michelotti, 1847 — Strausz 1966: 460, pl. 70, figs 2–4.
Conus (Chelyconus) puschi Michelotti, 1847 — Hinculov 1968: 150, pl. 38, figs 3a–b.
? Conus puschi Michelotti—Davoli 1972: 128, pl. 8, figs 17-20.
? Conus (Chelyconus) puschi Michelotti, 1847 — Atanacković 1985: 176, pl. 39, figs 7–8.
Plagioconus puschi (Michelotti, 1847) — Kovács & Vicián 2013: 81, figs 106–107.
Plagioconus puschi (Michelotti, 1847) — Landau et al. 2013: 245, pl. 39, fig. 5, pl. 41, fig. 13, pl. 42, fig. 7, pl. 81, fig. 9.
non Conus puschi Michelotti, 1847 — Hall 1966: 158, pl. 27, figs 10, 14, 19.
non Conus (Chelyconus) puschi Michelotti—Chira & Voia 2001: 156, pl. 4, figs 1a–b [= Plagioconus extensus (Hörnes, 1851)].
Type material. Syntype illustrated by Michelotti (1847, pl. 14, fig. 6), Tortona, Italy; the specimen might have been stored in the collections of the Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza Università di Roma but parts of the Michelotti collection were destroyed during WWII (Manni 2005); type specimen is lost according to Hall (1966); late Miocene, Tortonian. The type locality Tortona was questioned by Sacco (1893b). In addition to the Italian specimen(s), Michelotti (1847) referred also to material from the Burdigalian of Bordeaux (France).
Studied material. 1 spec. NHMW 2013/0479/1615, 4 spec. NHMW 2013/0479/1616, 4 spec. NHMW 2013/ 0479/2042, 5 spec. NHMW 1855 /0045/0368, all Gainfarn (Austria); 2 spec. NHMW 1851 /0013/0062, illustrated in Hörnes (1851, pl. 4, fig. 7), 3 spec. NHMW 1860/0001/0062; 4 spec. NHMW 1846/0037/0026, 2 spec. NHMW 1884 /2869, 1 spec. GBA 1856/004/0004/01 illustrated in Hörnes (1851, pl. 4, fig. 6), all Steinebrunn (Austria); 1 spec. NHMW 1846 /0037/0024, Grinzing (Austria), illustrated in Hörnes (1851, pl. 4, fig. 5).
Illustrated material. Fig. 30 J: Steinebrunn (Austria), SL: 60.6 mm, MD: 22.1 mm, NHMW 1846/0037/0026; Figs 33A 1 –A3: Gainfarn (Austria): SL: 98.7 mm, MD: 37.8 mm, NHMW 2013/0479/1615; Figs 33 B1–B3: Gainfarn (Austria): SL: 78.6 mm, MD: 27.9 mm, NHMW 1860/0001/0062; Figs 33 C1–C3: Gainfarn (Austria): SL: 66.20 mm, MD: 24.7 mm, NHMW 1851/0013/0062, illustrated in Hörnes (1851, pl. 4, fig. 7).
Revised description. Moderately large to large shell, up to ca. 100 mm in height; elongate slender outline with moderately elevated conical spire. Early spire whorls weakly angulated and beaded, later whorls convex with deep suture. Subsutural flexure of medium depth, strongly curved, strongly asymmetrical. Shoulder broadly rounded, position of maximum diameter slightly below shoulder; last whorl straight sided, not constricted at base. Spiral threads on late spire whorls and along shoulder of last whorl; spiral grooves may appear on lower third of last whorl, becoming stronger and closely spaced abapically. Aperture narrow, slightly narrowing adapically; siphonal canal almost straight, fasciole weak. No colour pattern preserved.
Shell measurements and ratios. n = 17 adult and subadult specimens: largest specimen: SL: 98.7 mm, MD: 37.8 mm, mean SL: 76.0 mm (σ = 9.4), mean MD: 28.8 mm (σ = 3.8), spire angle: µ = 75.1° (σ = 5.4°), last whorl angle: µ = 22.2° (σ = 1.8°), LW: µ = 2.64 (σ = 0.15), RD: µ = 0.48 (σ = 0.02), PMD: µ = 0.95 (σ = 0.02), RSH: µ = 0.21 (σ = 0.02).
Discussion. Plagioconus puschi is reminiscent of subadult P. elatus (Michelotti, 1847), which lack the prominent shoulder of adult specimens. Both species can be distinguished based on the nearly diagonal and shallow subsutural flexure of P. puschi and the angulation of the spire whorls of P. elatus. Moreover, fully grown specimens of P. elatus are always distinctly larger.
Sacco (1893b) doubted that the specimens from the Vienna Basin are conspecific with the Italian P. puschi and proposed new names for each of the two shells illustrated by Hörnes (1851): Conus postica and C. sulcopostica. Both shells derive from Steinebrunn in the northern Vienna Basin and represent a subadult and a fully grown specimen. Therefore, Conus postica Sacco, 1893 and Conus sulcopostica Sacco, 1893 are considered subjective junior synonyms of Conus puschi Michelotti, 1847. The syntype of Conus haueri Hörnes, 1851 (pl. 4, fig. 5) is also Plagioconus puschi —a fact that was already recognized by Hall (1966). Therefore, Conus haueriana Sacco, 1893, which was introduced as new name for that specimen, is also a subjective junior synonym of Conus puschi Michelotti, 1847.
The specimen from Bosnia, illustrated by Atanacković (1963, 1985, same specimen in both papers) has a marked angulation of the last whorl and might rather be an aberrant Plagioconus extensus (Hörnes, 1851). The shells illustrated by Hall (1966) as Conus puschi differ in their dome-shaped spire and represent a different species. Similarly, the specimens illustrated by Davoli (1972) differ in their high conical spire and might belong to another species.
Paleoenvironment. Typically found in shallow water assemblages; for some localities sea grass meadows are documented (e.g. Gainfarn, Zuschin et al. 2007).
Distribution in Paratethys. Badenian (middle Miocene): Vienna Basin: Gainfarn, Steinebrunn, Bad Vöslau, Baden, Niederleis (Austria), Mikulov-Kienberk, Hrušovany (Czech Republic) (Hörnes 1851); Alpine-Carpathian Foredeep: Grund (Austria), Lysice (Czech Republic) (Hörnes 1851; Sieber 1956); Eisenstadt-Sopron Basin: Forchtenau (Austria); Pannonian Basin: Devecser, Diósd, Letkés, Magyaregregy, Szob, Zebegény (Hungary) (Kovács & Vicián 2013); southern Pannonian Basin: Zapešić-Brijeg at Samobor (Croatia); Banja Luka Basin: Miljevići (Bosnia and Herzegovina) (Pavlovsky 1957), Transylvanian Basin: Lăpugiu de Sus, Coşteiu de Sus (Romania) (Boettger 1902, 1906); Caransebeş-Mehadia Basin: Valea Satului (Romania) (Hinculov 1968).
Proto-Mediterranean Sea and northeastern Atlantic. Widespread during the early Miocene to late Miocene in the northeastern Atlantic and the Proto-Mediterranean Sea; the species persists into the Pliocene in the Mediterranean Sea (see Landau et al. 2013 for detailed references).
description: Published as part of Harzhauser, Mathias & Landau, Bernard, 2016, A revision of the Neogene Conidae and Conorbidae (Gastropoda) of the Paratethys Sea, pp. 1-178 in Zootaxa 4210 (1) on pages 139-141, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4210.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/252966