Nipteraxis monilifer
Creators: name: Harzhauser, Mathias
name: Landau, Bernard
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Heterostropha
Architectonicidae
Nipteraxis
Nipteraxis monilifer

description: Nipteraxis monilifer (Bronn, 1831)
Figs 4H, 18A–B
* Solarium moniliferum Bronn 1831: 63.
Solarium moniliferum Bronn —Fontannes 1880: 138, pl. 8, fig. 5.
[Solarium] S [olarium]. moniliferum Bronn —Sacco 1892: 52, pl. 1, fig. 76.
[Solarium] S [olarium]. moniliferum var. brocchiana Sacc. —Sacco 1892: 52, pl. 1, fig. 77.
[Solarium] S [olarium]. moniliferum var. perconoidalis Sacc. —Sacco 1892: 52, pl. 1, fig. 78.
[Solarium] S [olarium]. moniliferum var. testudinea Sacc. —Sacco 1892: 52, pl. 1, fig. 79.
[Solarium] S [olarium]. moniliferum var. permonilifera Sacc. —Sacco 1892: 53, pl. 1, fig. 80.
[Solarium] S [olarium]. moniliferum var. subamonilifera Sacc. —Sacco 1892: 53, pl. 1, fig. 81.
[Solarium] S [olarium]. moniliferum var. sulcosecarinata Sacc. —Sacco 1892: 53, pl. 1, fig. 82.
[Solarium] S [olarium]. moniliferum var. semisquamosiformis Sacc. —Sacco 1892: 53, pl. 1, fig. 83.
[Solarium] S [olarium]. moniliferum var. latesulcata Sacc. —Sacco, p. 53, pl. 1, fig. 84.
[Solarium] S [olarium]. moniliferum var. basilatesulcata Sacc. —Sacco, p. 53, pl. 1, fig. 85.
[Solarium] S [olarium]. moniliferum var. lyelliana Sacc. —Sacco, p. 53, pl. 1, fig. 86.
Architectonica (Architectonica) monilifera (Bronn) 1831 —Rossi Ronchetti 1955: 122, fig. 58.
Architectonica (s.s.) monilifera (Bronn) —Ruggieri & Curti 1959: 109, pl. 22, fig. 137.
Architectonica (Architectonica) monilifera (Bronn, 1831) — Malatesta 1974: 179, pl. 13, fig. 4.
Architectonica monilifera (Bronn) — Caprotti 1976: 7, pl. 8, fig. 9.
Solarium moniliferum Bronn, 1831 — Ferrero Mortara et al. 1984: 94, pl. 14, figs 5a–c.
Heliacus (Granoheliacus) moniliferus (Bronn, 1831) — Cavallo & Repetto 1992: 150, fig. 417.
Heliacus moniliferus (Bronn, 1831) — Bogi et al. 2002: 34, figs 19, 20.
Heliacus moniliferus (Bronn, 1831) — Chirli & Richard 2008: 74, pl. 15, fig. 1.
Heliacus moniliferum (Bronn, 1831) —Sosso & Dell’Angelo 2010: 50, unnumbered fig. p. 65 bottom right.
Heliacus moniliferus (Bronn, 1831) — Landau et al. 2011: 39, pl. 22, fig. 1.
Heliacus moniliferus (Bronn, 1831) — Chirli 2013: 13, pl. 4, figs 10-15.
Nipteraxis monilifera (Bronn, 1831) — Landau et al. 2013: 300, pl. 52, fig. 1 (cum syn.).
Heliacus moniliferum (Bronn, 1831) — Brunetti 2022: 76, fig. 171.
non Solarium moniliferum Bronn — Ĥrnes 1848: 22 [= Solatisonax exmonilifera (Sacco, 1892)].
non Solarium moniliferum Bronn —Ĥrnes 1856: 466, pl. 46, figs 5a–c [= Solatisonax exmonilifera (Sacco, 1892)].
non Solarium (Architectonica) moniliferum Bronn —Boettger 1907: 135 [= Solatisonax exmonilifera (Sacco, 1892)].
non Architectonica monilifera (Bronn) — Csepreghy-Meznerics 1956: 386, pl. 1, figs 29–30 [= Solatisonax exmonilifera (Sacco, 1892)].
non Architectonica (A [rchitectonica].) monilifera (Bronn) —Sieber 1958: 139 [= Solatisonax exmonilifera (Sacco, 1892)].
non Solarium moniliferum Bronn, 1831 —Strausz 1966: 118, pl. 51, figs 8–10 [= Solatisonax exmonilifera (Sacco, 1892)].
non Solarium moniliferum Bronn — Csepreghy-Meznerics 1969b: 20, pl. 2, figs 12, 17, 21, 27 [= Solatisonax exmonilifera (Sacco, 1892)].
non Architectonica (A [rchitectonica].) monilifera (Bronn, 1831) —Steininger 1973: 404, pl. 4, fig. 4.
non Architectonica (Architectonica) monilifera (Bronn, 1831) — Atanacković 1985: 96, pl. 23, figs 1–3 [= Heliacus].
Type material. Parts of the collection of Heinrich Georg Bronn (1800–1862) have been stored at the Harvard University, but the types could not be found.
Illustrated material. NHMW 1846/0037/0427, SL: 9.9 mm, MD: 19.3 mm, M̂llersdorf (Austria), Figs 4H, 18A 1 –A 2. NHMW 2023/0265/0002, SL: 9.1 mm, MD: 15.9 mm, M̂llersdorf (Austria), Figs 18B 1 –B 2.
Revised description. Shell medium-sized, elevated discoidal with cyrtoconoid spire and angulated periphery. Protoconch heterostrophic, medium-sized of 1.2 visible whorls (diameter 1.2 mm). Teleoconch of c. 4.5 faintly convex whorls. Transition into teleoconch marked by protoconch lip. Sculpture of dorsal side of dense, finely beaded spiral cords, SSC slightly stronger. Up to seven primary and secondary mid-cords. UPC about same strength as subsutural cord. LPC most prominent. One spiral cord intercalated between UPC and LPC. Periphery angulated with blunt, finely crenulated keel. Base faintly concave below keel, only weakly convex below. LPC moderately broad, finely beaded, Basal field with about ten beaded primary and secondary spiral cords, widening slightly towards umbilicus. PUC slightly wider. UC prominent, overhanging umbilicus, delimited from basal field by weak spiral groove. Umbilicus narrowly funnel-shaped, wide (~26–28% of total shell diameter); umbilical wall bearing fine axial growth lines. Aperture small, subcircular, weakly angled at periphery, with narrow CG. PG absent.
Discussion. The placement in Niperaxis is tentative as this species lacks the “sub-bicarinate” periphery typical for that genus. Moreover, it is reminiscent of the extant ‘ Solatisonax ’ supraradiata (von Martens, 1904), which differs mainly in its narrow umbilicus. As S. supraradiata has a prominent and well delimited PUC, its placement in Solatisonax is doubtful. A specimen illustrated by Landau et al. (2013) from the Middle Miocene of the Karaman Basin (Turkey) agrees with this species in profile and sculpture but has a much narrower umbilicus. The shell suffered damage and repair about one-half whorl from the aperture. Unfortunately, the species is represented by a single specimen from these deposits, and although it is likely that the narrowed umbilicus is pathological, we cannot exclude the possibility it represents a further species within the group. A specimen from the Karpatian of Várpalota (Hungary), described by Steininger (1973), is too poorly preserved to allow identification but the spiral cords are separated by wider interspaces as usually seen in N. monilifer.
Paleoenvironment. Pelitic bottoms of inner neritic environments (Bogi et al. 2002).
Distribution. Nipteraxis monilifer appeared during the Middle Miocene in the Central Paratethys Sea and the Proto-Mediterranean Sea. During the Late Miocene, it occurred also in the northeastern Atlantic and persisted in the Mediterranean into the Pliocene.
Central Paratethys Sea. Badenian (Middle Miocene): Vienna Basin: M̂llersdorf (Austria).
Proto-Mediterranean Sea. Serravallian (Middle Miocene): Karaman Basin (Turkey) (Landau et al. 2013). Tortonian (Late Miocene): Po Basin (Italy) (Sacco, 1892). Pliocene: Estepona Basin (Spain) (Landau et al. 2013), Roussillon Basin (France) (Fontannes 1880; Chirli & Richard 2008); Morocco (Lecointre 1952); central Mediterranean (Italy) (Sacco 1892; Ruggieri & Curti 1959; Malatesta 1974; Bogi et al. 2002; Sosso & Dell’Angelo 2010; Chirli 2013).
Northeastern Atlantic. Tortonian (Late Miocene): Cacela Basin, Portugal (Landau et al. 2013); Early Pliocene: Guadalquivir Basin (Spain) (Landau et al., 2011).
description: Published as part of Harzhauser, Mathias & Landau, Bernard, 2023, The Architectonicidae and Mathildidae (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia) of the Miocene Paratethys Sea-victims of the Miocene Climatic Transition, pp. 1-74 in Zootaxa 5370 (1) on pages 36-38, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5370.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10147814