Kestocenebra vermeiji Harzhauser, Landau & Merle, 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Harzhauser, Mathias
name: Landau, Bernard M.
name: Merle, Didier
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Neogastropoda
Muricidae
Kestocenebra
Kestocenebra vermeiji

description: Kestocenebra vermeiji sp. nov.
Figs 13, 18A–C
Murex striaeformis Micht. —Hörnes 1853: 235, pl. 24, fig. 13 [non Kestocenebra striaeformis (Michelotti, 1841)].
Murex (Phyllonotus) striaeformis Michti. —Hoernes & Auinger 1885: 212 [non Kestocenebra striaeformis (Michelotti, 1841)]. P [urpura]. (T [ritonalia].) striaeformis (Micht.) — Sieber 1958: 146 [non Kestocenebra striaeformis (Michelotti, 1841)]. Ocenebra striaeformis (Michelotti, 1841) — Stojaspal 1978: 335 [non Kestocenebra striaeformis (Michelotti, 1841)]. Kestocenebra striaeformis (Michelotti) — Vermeij 1998: 861 [non Kestocenebra striaeformis (Michelotti, 1841)].
Type material. Holotype: NHMW 1855 /0045/0686a, SL: 38.7 mm, MD: 22.7 mm, Grund (Austria), Figs 18B 1 –B 2. Paratypes: NHMW 1851 /0002/0026, SL: 33.2 mm, MD: 20.9 mm, Grund (Austria), illustrated in Hörnes (1853: pl. 23, fig. 13), Figs 18C 1 –C 2. NHMW 1855 /0045/0686, SL: 40.2 mm, MD: 23.6 mm, Grund (Austria), Figs 18A 1 – A 2.
Additional paratypes. 6 spec., NHMW 1851 /0002/0026 (A935), Grund Austria; 4 spec., NHMW 1866 /0040/0068, Grund (Austria).
Type locality. Grund (Austria), North Alpine-Carpathian Foreland Basin.
Type stratum. Silty sand of the Grund Formation.
Age. Middle Miocene, early Badenian (Langhian).
Etymology. In honor of Geerat Vermeij (University of California, USA), grand seigneur of conchology and first describer of Kestocenebra.
Diagnosis. Medium-sized, solid, stout biconical shell with indistinct suture, broad, steep subsutural ramp; shoulder and P1 weak, periphery delimited by P2; prominent P1–P4, delicate secondary and tertiary sculpture and low, blunt labral tooth.
Description. Medium-sized, solid, stout biconical shell with thick brownish calcitic surface layer; apical angle ~70°. Protoconch unknown. Teleoconch of up to four whorls. Suture indistinct. Early teleoconch whorls weakly convex with periphery at abapical suture. Axial sculpture of about ten low, broad, orthocline to prosocline axial ribs separated by wider interspaces, overrun by weakly scabrose adis, IP, abis, P1 of subequal strength and slightly weaker tertiary cords on penultimate whorl, P2 prominent along shoulder. Last whorl attaining ~85% of total height with broad subsutural collar and broad, straight-sided subsutural ramp. Shoulder weakly angled to rounded, convex below, abruptly constricted at base. Shoulder at weak P1; P2 delimits periphery. Axial sculpture of eight broad, convex varices forming indistinct knobs along shoulder. Subsutural ramp scabrose adis, IP and abis with two weaker tertiary cords in interspaces. P1 weak, P2 prominent, P3–P5 broad, prominent, P6, ADP, MP weaker, s1–s4 less prominent, adjoined by up to three weakly scabrose tertiary threads at each side. Other primary cords indistinct. Fasciole strongly swollen, delimiting broad pseudoumbilicus. Aperture ovate; outer lip strongly thickened by terminal varix, with crenulate edge; ID missing, prominent D1–D5, D4 bifid close behind peristome and broad, blunt labral tooth formed at continuation of P4. Anal canal broad, weakly incised. Siphonal canal moderately short, narrowly open or closed, straight or weakly deflected to the left. Columella straight, weakly twisted at siphonal canal. Columellar callus forming broad, adherent rim.
Discussion. The type species Kestocenebra curvicosta (Grateloup, 1845) is club-shaped and characterized by the belt-like P4 and a distinct labral tooth. Kestocenebra vermeiji sp. nov. is stout biconical and P4 is weaker, resulting in the base being poorly delimited. The labral tooth is broad and blunt in K. vermeiji but pointed in K. curvicosta (see Vermeij 1998: fig. 2). The Paratethyan species was identified as Kestocenebra striaeformis (Michelotti, 1841) by all authors since Hörnes (1853). Kestocenebra striaeformis was described by Michelotti (1841, 1847), Bellardi (1873) and Sacco (1904) from the Burdigalian of Baldissero and Termô-Fôurà and the Langhian of Rio della Batteria and Villa Forzano in the Colli Torinesi (Italy). It is reminiscent of K. vermeiji in its stout biconical shell but differs in its more prominent varices. The terminal varix extends to the suture in K. striaeformis whereas in K. vermeiji the varix narrows over the ramp in dorsal view. In addition, the spiral sculpture is coarser, with stronger s1 and s2, and one prominent tertiary thread on either side, whereas K. vermeiji develops up to three finer tertiary threads (see Michelotti 1847: pl. 11, fig. 7; Sacco 1904: pl. 6, figs 15–16). The specimen from the Aquitanian of Saucats (France), described by Lozouet et al. (2001: pl. 22, figs 1a–c) as Kestocenebra striaeformis, differs from that species and from Kestocenebra vermeiji in its higher spire, more deeply incised suture, and the slightly higher position of the shoulder angulation slightly above the adapical suture. This is yet another example of a group of species that have been lumped together under a single name. On closer examination, however, the situation is more complex and diverse, with K. vermeiji endemic to the Middle Miocene Paratethys, K. striaeformis from the Early-Middle Miocene Proto-Mediterranean Sea, and a third species in the Early Miocene Atlantic of France that still requires formal description.
Paleoenvironment. At the locality Grund channels formed in middle to outer neritic environments and were filled, with allochthonous assemblages uniting coastal-mudflat faunas with inner neritic ones (Zuschin et al. 2005; Roetzel 2009). Preservation and reddish color of the fossil shells, suggest, that Kestocenebra vermeiji belonged to the allochthonous shallow water fauna and not to the autochthonous deep-water fauna.
Distribution in Central Paratethys. Badenian (Middle Miocene): North Alpine-Carpathian Foreland Basin: Grund (Austria), Boršov (= Porstendorf) (Czech Republic) (Hoernes & Auinger 1885).
description: Published as part of Harzhauser, Mathias, Landau, Bernard M. & Merle, Didier, 2025, The Muricidae (Gastropoda, Muricoidea) of the Miocene Central Paratethys Sea (Haustrinae, Muricinae, Ocenebrinae, Pagodulinae, Typhinae, Muricidae incertae sedis), pp. 1-162 in Zootaxa 5572 (1) on pages 45-47, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5572.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14746115