Conasprella berwerthi Hoernes & Auinger 1879
Creators: name: Harzhauser, Mathias
name: Landau, Bernard
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Neogastropoda
Conidae
Conasprella
Conasprella berwerthi

description: Conasprella berwerthi (Hoernes & Auinger, 1879)
Figs 3 B, 4C1–C2, 4D1–D3, 4E1–E3, 4F1–F4,
Conus catenatus Sow. —Hörnes 1851: 42, pl. 5, figs 4a–c, fig. 4 without letter [non Conus catenatus Sowerby I, 1850, non Conus catenatus Sowerby III, 1879].
[Leptoconus] [Conus] Berwerthi n. f.— Hoernes 1878a: 195 (nomen nudum).
Conus (Leptoconus) Berwerthi nov. form.— Hoernes & Auinger 1879: 35, pl. 5, figs 11–12.
Conus (Rhizoconus) catenatus Sow. — Hoernes & Auinger 1879: 37 [non Conus catenatus Sowerby I, 1850, non Conus catenatus Sowerby III, 1879].
[Conus (Conospirus) antediluvianus] forma excatenata Sacc.— Sacco 1893a: 44 [nov. nom. pro Conus catenatus in Hörnes 1851, pl. 5, figs 4a–c].
Hemiconus (?) cf. catenatus Sow. — Friedberg 1938: 156, text-fig. 51 [non Conus catenatus Sowerby I, 1850, non Conus catenatus Sowerby III, 1879].
Type material. Syntype NHMW 1860 /0001/0074a, Steinebrunn (Austria), illustrated in Hoernes & Auinger (1879, pl. 5, fig. 11); syntype NHMW 1860 /0001/0074b, Steinebrunn (Austria), illustrated in Hoernes & Auinger (1879, pl. 5, fig. 12); middle Miocene, Badenian (late Langhian).
Studied material. Syntypes and 1 spec. NHMW 1846 /0037/0038, Steinebrunn (Austria), illustrated in Hörnes (1851, pl. 5, figs 4a–c), holotype of Conus excatenatus Sacco, 1893; 1 spec. NHMW 1860 /0001/0074, Steinebrunn (Austria), illustrated in Hörnes (1851, pl. 5, fig. 4); 1 spec. NHMW 2015/0416/0001, 1 spec. NHMW 2015/0416/ 0002; 1 spec. NHMW 2015 /0416/0003, Steinebrunn or Gainfarn (Austria).
Illustrated material. Figs 4 C1–C2: Steinebrunn (Austria): SL: 10 mm, MD: 4.7 mm, NHMW 1860/0001/ 0074b, illustrated in Hoernes & Auinger (1879, pl. 5, fig. 12); Figs 4 D1–D3: Steinebrunn or Gainfarn (Austria): SL: 20.5 mm, MD: 9.4 mm, NHMW 2015/0416/0002; Figs 4 E1–E3: Steinebrunn or Gainfarn (Austria): SL: 20.9 mm, MD: 9.7 mm, NHMW 2015/0416/0001; Figs 3 B, 4F1–F4: Steinebrunn (Austria): SL: 22.7 mm, MD: 11.8 mm, NHMW 1846/0037/0038, illustrated in Hörnes (1851, pl. 5, figs 4a–c).
Revised description. Small biconical shells of about 20–23 mm height; protoconch high conical, comprising at least three whorls. Spire height moderate to high, coeloconoid. Whorls with broad, straight to weakly concave sutural ramp, periphery placed a short distance above suture, below whorl tapering in towards lower suture. Shoulder bearing more or less well defined beads, starting at carina and extending to suture during ontogeny. Delicate and finely beaded spiral threads appear below shoulder on penultimate whorls. Subsutural flexure shallow, moderately curved, moderately asymmetrical. Last whorl conical with 13 to 16 wide spaced spiral rows of small but prominent, spirally elongate beads. Beads merge into spiral ribs close to siphonal canal and fasciole. Distinct growth lines between the glossy spiral rows. Base weakly constricted. Siphonal fasciole narrow and indistinct; aperture with parallel margins, moderately narrow. Siphonal canal short, weakly twisted, poorly delimited from base. Colour pattern in UV light consisting of light dots coinciding with the beads on last whorl; short opisthocline stripes, following the subsutural flexure, appear close below the shoulder and merge with the dots on the uppermost spiral row of beads.
Shell measurements and ratios. n = 4 adult specimens: largest specimen: SL: 22.7 mm, MD: 11.8 mm, mean SL: 21.1 mm (σ = 1.1), mean MD: 10.2 mm (σ = 1.1), spire angle: µ = 78° (σ = 14.9°), last whorl angle: µ = 32.3° (σ = 2.2°), LW: µ = 2.1 (σ = 0.1), RD: µ = 0.6 (σ = 0.05), PMD: µ = 0.9 (σ = 0.04), RSH: µ = 0.2 (σ = 0.05).
Discussion. Hoernes & Auinger (1879) doubted that the specimen illustrated by Hörnes (1851, pl. 5) as Fig. 4 was conspecific with the specimen illustrated by Hörnes (1851, pl. 5, figs 4a–c) as Conus catenatus and separated it as Conus berwerthi. They based the separation on the smaller size, the more slender shape and the lack of pustulose spiral threads in the upper half of the last whorl of C. berwerthi. Sacco (1893a) recognized that the Viennese Miocene Conus catenatus of Hörnes (1851) and Hoernes & Auinger (1879) was not conspecific with the extant American C. catenatus Sowerby III, 1 879 [= Tenorioconus granarius (Kiener, 1847)] and proposed excatenata as new variation name. In our opinion, the differences between both morphologies are only ontogenetic stages of a single species. Conus berwerthi is based on three juvenile to subadult shells, which lack the broad and strongly sculptured last whorl of C. excatenatus. Moreover, both types were collected at the same locality. Consequently, Conus berwerthi gains priority over C. excatenatus. The Paratethyan species is also not conspecific with the American Conus catenatus Sowerby I, 1850, which has concave spire whorls.
A very rare species, which is easily recognized by its characteristic beaded sculpture.
Paleoenvironment. The Austrian occurrences point to shallow sublittoral settings as the preferred paleoenvironment of this species.
Distribution in Paratethys. Badenian (middle Miocene): Vienna Basin: Gainfarn, Steinebrunn, Drasenhofen (Austria); Eisenstadt-Sopron Basin: Marz, Mattersburg (Austria) (Hoernes & Auinger 1879; Sieber 1958b); Alpine-Carpathian Foredeep: Grund (Austria), Drnovice u Vyškova (Czech Republic), Sboriw (Ukraine) (Hoernes & Auinger 1879; Friedberg 1938; Sieber 1947); Transylvanian Basin: Lăpugiu de Sus (Romania) (Hoernes & Auinger 1879; Moisescu 1955b).
description: Published as part of Harzhauser, Mathias & Landau, Bernard, 2016, A revision of the Neogene Conidae and Conorbidae (Gastropoda) of the Paratethys Sea, pp. 1-178 in Zootaxa 4210 (1) on pages 41-42, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4210.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/252966