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

description: Cancilla cf. capelliniana (Cocconi, 1873)
Figs 13I 1 –I 2
cf. M [itra]. Capelliniana C occ.— Cocconi 1873: 100, pl. 3, figs 3–4.
Mitraria (Tiara) orientalis Oppenheim — Schultz 1998: 70, pl. 28, fig. 8 [non Griffith & Pidgeon, 1834; non Oppenheim, 1918].
Material. NHMW 2013/0078/0361, SL: 69.2 mm, MD: 18.8 mm, Baden (Austria), figs 13I 1 –I 2; NHMW 1865/0015/0016, Jerutek at Lysice (Czech Republic).
Description. Shell large, solid, slender fusiform with moderately broad conical spire and impressed suture. Protoconch unknown. Teleoconch of eight whorls. Early teleoconch whorls weakly convex, with periphery at abapical suture. Sculpture of nine convex spiral cords separated by narrow spiral grooves bearing delicate axial riblets, resulting in delicate cancellate pattern. Later spire whorls are nearly straight sided, with periphery at abapical suture, with broad, flattish spiral cords (ten on penultimate whorl). Axial sculpture weakening on later whorls. Last whorl high, straight sided above moderately convex periphery, strongly constricted, with moderately deep basal concavity. Spiral sculpture on last whorl of broad spiral cords above periphery, subobsolete along periphery, narrow primary and secondary spirals on base and fasciole. Aperture narrow, constricted in abapical third; columellar callus slightly thickened, sharply delimited, Columella with three oblique columellar folds. Siphonal canal moderately long, narrow, twisted with moderately deep siphonal notch.
Shell measurements and ratios. SL = 69.2 mm, MD: 18.8 mm; AA = 33°, SL/MD: 3.5, AL/AW: 6.9, AH/S: 2.4.
Discussion. Only two specimens are available, represented by a spire fragment and the illustrated specimen, which shows scars from a severe trauma. Therefore, it remains unclear if the peculiar morphology of the last whorl, with the constricted base, is typical for the species, or an individual pathology. Nevertheless, the two specimens differ from all other Paratethyan Mitridae in the wide apical angle and broad conical spire. In addition, the high number of spiral cords on early teleoconch whorls differs from comparable species such as Cancilla praescrobiculata (Toldo, 1889) and Cancilla planicostata (Bellardi, 1887).
The illustrated specimen is close to Cancilla capelliniana (Cocconi, 1873), described from the Pliocene of Diolo (Italy), which differs only in its somewhat smaller size (SL: 42 mm). We have not seen the type material of Cocconi (1873) and therefore, the identification remains provisional. The Pliocene Cancilla atilis (Bellardi, 1887) and Cancilla sismondai sensu Pelosio, 1967 (non Bellardi, 1887) are superficially similar with C. capelliniana, but have convex whorls and lack the marked basal concavity.
Palaeoenvironment. The mollusc assemblage from Jerutek at Lysice (Czech Republic) suggests a middle to outer neritic environment (own data). Cancilla capelliniana was described from the “marne azzurre” of Diolo, which represent deeper water deposits.
Distribution in Central Paratethys. Badenian (middle Miocene): North Alpine-Carpathian Foredeep: Jerutek at Lysice (Czech Republic), Vienna Basin: Baden (Austria) (Schultz 1998).
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 52-53, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4983.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4921887