Seraphs leukoleptus Jung 1974
Creators: name: Caze, Bruno
name: Merle, Didier
name: Pacaud, Jean-Michel
name: Saint Martin, Jean-Paul
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2010
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Littorinimorpha
Seraphsidae
Seraphs
Seraphs leukoleptus

description: Seraphs leukoleptus Jung, 1974 (Figs 11 F-I; 13)   
 Seraphs leukoleptus Jung, 1974: 23, 24, pl. 6, figs 1-3, text-fig. 17.   
 Terebellum (Seraphs) fusiformopse – Cossmann 1889: 97, pl. 3, figs 3, 4; 1904: 46 partim. — Cossmann & Pissarro 1911: pl. 31, fig. 158-3. Non Terebellum fusiformopse de Gregorio, 1880.   
 Seraphs leukoleptus – Le Renard 1992: 6. — Le Renard & Pacaud 1995: 112. — Pacaud & Le Renard 1995: 162.   
Type locality. — Chaussy, Les Garennes (Val d’Oise, France), Lutetian (Middle Eocene).  
TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype (Deshayes coll.); 1 paratype (Deshayes coll., Les Garennes, Chaussy). Unfortunately, the type material of this species has not been found in the Deshayes collection, deposited at the UCBL. A neotype designation is needed to clarify the taxonomic status of this species. A neotype from the type locality (MNHN A28781, Ledon leg.; Figs 11F, H, I; 13 A-D) is thus chosen here. Th is initiative conforms to the rules specified by the ICZN (1999: art. 75), as regards the designation of a neotype.  
OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED. — See Appendix 1.  
DESCRIPTION  
 Shell   
Shell up to 36 mm in height and 8 mm in diameter, very slender and elongated, with straight and almost parallel sides (Fig.11F, H). Aperture long and narrow. Callus of the inner lip very thin, but well delineated, continuing adapically on the spire and forming a narrow band parallel to the outer lip. Columella slightly bent backwards near the base. Outer lip thickened, almost straight in labral view,opisthocline and extending to the apex (Fig. 11I). Shallow siphonal notch on the dorsal side of the shell (Fig. 11H). Few oblique faint grooves near the base (Fig. 11G).  
 Colour pattern   
The residual pattern is only composed of 2 levels of residual pigmentation: dark dots on a lighter background (Fig. 13). Th e dark dots are small and spirally elongated forming narrow triangles (Fig. 13 B-C, I). These triangles, orientated towards the outer lip, are irregularly spread over the whole surface.  
COMPARISONS  
 Seraphs leukoleptus is the only species having a shell with straight and almost parallel sides. Moreover, it is easily distinguished from the other species by a shallow siphonal notch. Th e pattern of S. leukoleptus is distinguishable from the other patterns by its dots. Th ey do not form rows, as observed in S. volutatus and S. olivaceus. Moreover, these dots are composed of only one level of residual pigmentation, while the other species have dots composed of two levels of residual pigmentation.
description: Published as part of Caze, Bruno, Merle, Didier, Pacaud, Jean-Michel & Saint Martin, Jean-Paul, 2010, First Systematic Study using the Variability of the Residual Colour Patterns: The Case of the Paleogene Seraphsidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Stromboidea), pp. 417-477 in Geodiversitas 32 (3) on page 438, DOI: 10.5252/g2010n3a4, http://zenodo.org/record/5381152