Cancilla pulcherrima
Creators: name: Harzhauser, Mathias
name: Landau, Bernard
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Neogastropoda
Mitridae
Cancilla
Cancilla pulcherrima

description: Cancilla pulcherrima (Bellardi, 1887)
Figs 13F 1 –1F 2, G 1 –G 2, H 1 –H 2
* Mitra pulcherrima Bell. — Bellardi 1887b: 13, pl. 2, fig. 15.
[Mitra pulcherrima Bell.] Varietà A— Bellardi 1887b: 13.
[Mitra] Cancilla pulcherrima Bell. var. plicatulominor Sacc. — Sacco 1904: 84, pl. 19, figs 4–5.
Mitra (Tiara) pulcherrima Bellardi, 1887 —Kojumdgieva in Kojumdgieva & Strachimirov 1960: 157, pl. 42, fig. 3.
Mitra (Cancilla) pulcherrima plicatulominor Sacco — Kókay 1966: 62, pl. 9, fig. 9.
Mitra (Tiara) pulcherrima Bellardi, 1887 — Robba 1968: 561, pl.43, fig. 1.
Mitra (Cancilla) pulcherrima plicatulominor Sacco — Csepreghy-Meznerics 1969: 92, pl. 5, fig. 19.
Mitra (Cancilla) pulcherrima plicatulominor Sacco — Csepreghy-Meznerics 1972: 31, pl. 14, fig. 10.
Mitra pulcherrima Bellardi, 1887 —Ferrero-Mortara et al. 1981: 163, pl. 50, figs 11a–b.
Cancilla pulcherrima (Bellardi, 1887) — Cernohorsky 1991: 37,
Cancilla pulcherrima (Bellardi, 1887) —Davoli 2002: 190, pl. 4, figs 5–8, pl. 5, fig. 17.
Type material. Holotype (BS.019.01.202) illustrated in Ferrero Mortara et al. (1981, pl. 50, figs 11a–b), late Miocene, Tortonian, Stazzano, Italy, stored in the Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali, Torino.
Additional material. NHMW 2020/0113/0001, SL: 90.9 mm, MD: 21.7 mm, Baden-Sooss (Austria) figs 13G 1 –G 2; NHMW 2013/0078/0363a, SL: 76.3 mm, MD: 20.2 mm, Baden (Austria) figs 13H 1 –H 2; NHMW 2013/0078/0363b, SL: 55.8 mm, MD: 16.9 mm, Baden (Austria) figs 13F 1 –F 2.
Revised description (of Paratethyan specimens). Large, slender fusiform shell with high spire. Protoconch unknown. Teleoconch consisting of 13 whorls. Early spire whorls high conical forming weakly coeloconoid outline. Spire whorls weakly convex; suture distinctly incised. Sculpture on early teleoconch whorls consisting of five convex spiral cords crossed by densely spaced prominent, weakly opisthocline axial ribs, forming nodulose pattern at intersections with spiral cords. Spiral cords increase in number during ontogeny (seven to eight on penultimate whorl) with secondary and tertiary cords intercalated. Axial ribs weakening on penultimate and last whorls, prominent close-set growth lines, forming delicately cancellate pattern in spiral interspaces. Last whorl high, slowly contracting, with shallow basal concavity. Aperture moderately narrow, elongate, posteriorly narrowly angulated, with indistinct posterior sinus. Columellar callus slightly callused in parietal area; thin and indistinct below. Columella bearing three oblique columellar folds; fourth abapical fold subobsolete. Outer lip broken in all specimens. Siphonal canal long, narrow, straight to weakly twisted.
Shell measurements and ratios. SL = 55.8–90.9 mm, MD: 20.2–21.7 mm; AA = 23–27°, SL/ MD: 3.9–4.0, AL/AW: 5.0–5.5, AH/S: 2.0–2.2.
Discussion. This species is the largest mitrid in the Paratethyan fauna. It was mixed by Hörnes (1852b) and Hoernes & Auinger (1880) with specimens of Cancilla planicostata (Bellardi, 1887) and C. praescrobiculata (Toldo, 1889), but is readily distinguished from these species by its delicate axial sculpture. Cancilla pulcherrima plicatulominor Sacco, 1904 differs only in its smaller size and more regular, cancellate sculpture. It is based on a subadult specimen from Stazzano (Italy) from where C. pulcherrima is also recorded. In our opinion, it is a morphotype of C. pulcherrima. Cancilla pulcherrima is found in the Central Paratethys Sea and the Proto-Mediterranean Sea. The specimen from the Miocene of the North Sea, referred to as Mitra (Cancilla) cf. pulcherrima by Glibert (1952a: 116, pl. 9, fig. 1), is less elongate, has subcylindrical whorls, and represents another species.
Mitra pulcherrima was already used by Röding (1798: 138) for a Recent species as nomen nudum (see also Cernohorsky 1976: 285 /286). Therefore, Mitra pulcherrima Bellardi, 1887 is an available name.
Palaeoenvironment. The specimens from the Vienna Basin are exclusively found in clays of the Baden Formation, which formed in middle to outer neritic settings with up to 250 m water depth (Hohenegger et al. 2008).
Distribution in Central Paratethys. Badenian (middle Miocene): Vienna Basin: Baden, Baden-Sooss (Hoernes & Auinger 1880); Pannonian Basin: Herend (Hungary) (Kókay 1966); Bükk Mountains (Hungary) (CsepreghyMeznerics 1969, 1972); Dacian Basin: Staropatica (Bulgaria) (Kojumdgieva in Kojumdgieva & Strachimirov 1960).
Proto-Mediterranean Sea. Tortonian (late Miocene): Po Basin: Stazzano, Montegibbio (Italy) (Sacco 1904; Davoli 2000).
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 51-52, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4983.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4921887