Episcomitra pseudoincognita Harzhauser & Landau 2021, nov. sp.
Creators: name: Harzhauser, Mathias
name: Landau, Bernard
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Neogastropoda
Mitridae
Episcomitra
Episcomitra pseudoincognita

description: Episcomitra pseudoincognita nov. sp.
Figs 4F, G 1 –G 2, H 1 –H 2, I 1 –I 2, 7L 1 –L 2
[Mitra] incognita Bast. —Hoernes 1880: 125 [non de Basterot, 1825].
Mitra incognita Bast. — Hoernes & Auinger 1880: 79, pl. 9, figs 3–5 [non de Basterot, 1825].
Mitra Bouéi nov. form,— Hoernes & Auinger 1880 (pars): 79, pl. 9, figs 7a–b [non Hoernes & Auinger, 1880].
[Mitra] incognita Bast. — Rzehak 1894: 256 [non de Basterot, 1825].
Mitra Bouei R. Hoern. i Auinger— Friedberg 1911: 14, pl. 1, fig. 7 [non Hoernes & Auinger, 1880].
M [itraria]. (M [itraria].) bouéi (R. Hörn, et Au.)— Sieber 1958a: 154.
? Mitra cf. incognita clavatularis Grat.— Csepreghy-Meznerics 1969: 93, pl. 4, fig. 6 [non Grateloup, 1846].
? Mitra incognita clavatularis Grat. — Csepreghy-Meznerics 1972: 31, pl. 14, fig. 13 [non Grateloup, 1846].
Type material. Holotype: NHMW 1854 /0035/0100e, SL: 24.3 mm, MD: 8.3 mm, Lăpugiu de Sus (Romania), illustrated in Hoernes & Auinger (1880, pl. 9, figs 4a–b), figs 4G 1 –G 2. Paratypes: NHMW 1854 /0035/0100f, SL: 18.4 mm, MD: 7.0 mm, Lăpugiu de Sus (Romania), illustrated in Hoernes & Auinger (1880, pl. 9, figs 3a–b), figs 4H 1 –H 2; NHMW 1854 /0035/0100g, SL: 17.4 mm, MD: 6.7 mm, Lăpugiu de Sus (Romania), illustrated in Hoernes & Auinger (1880, pl. 9, figs 5a–c), figs 4I 1 –I 2; NHMW 2020 /0122/0001, SL: 22.2 mm, 7.5 MD: mm, Lăpugiu de Sus (Romania), figs 7L 1 –L 2; NHMW 1865 /0015/0014, SL: 21.1 mm, 7.6, MD: mm, Jerutek at Lysice (Czech Republic), illustrated in Hoernes & Auinger (1880, pl. 9, figs 7a–b), fig. 4F.
Additional material. NHMW 202 /0122/0002, 21 specimens, Lăpugiu de Sus (Romania).
Type locality. Lăpugiu de Sus (Romania), Făget Basin.
Type stratum. Silt and clay of the Dej Formation.
Age. Middle Miocene, early/middle Badenian (Langhian).
Etymology. A combination of Latin pseudo (= wrong) and incognita referring to the misidentification of Mitra incognita de Basterot, 1825.
Diagnosis. Episcomitra species of medium sized, moderately slender to moderately broad shell with acute conical spire, weakly convex whorls, moderately constricted last whorl, and delicate spiral sculpture of flattish spiral cords.
Description. Shell medium sized, moderately slender fusiform with impressed suture. Protoconch unknown. Teleoconch of eight whorls. Early teleoconch whorls straight sided, conical with five broad, convex spiral cords separated by narrow spiral grooves. Later teleoconch whorls weakly convex, with periphery at abapical suture. Up to ten spiral cords on penultimate whorl developing by bifurcation of primary spiral cords. Spiral sculpture weak or subobsolete on late spire whorls and last whorl in most specimens, rarely persisting throughout. Last whorl weakly convex, with periphery slightly below adapical tip of aperture; moderately constricted with distinct basal concavity. Numerous flattish spiral cords on base and fasciole. Aperture elongate ovoid, moderately wide. Columellar callus thin, narrow, indistinct. Columella with four oblique columellar folds, abapical one strongly reduced. Outer lip thin. Siphonal canal moderately long, wide, slightly bent to the left with deeply incised siphonal notch. Colour pattern in UV light consisting of narrow spiral stripes, disintegrating into long dashes on base and fasciole.
Shell measurements and ratios. SL = 18.4–24.3 mm, MD: 7.0– 8.3 mm, AA = 32–37°, SL/MD: 2.7–3.0, AL/ AW: 4.5–4.7, AH/S: 2.3–2.5.
Discussion. This small species was identified by Hoernes & Auinger (1880) as Mitra incognita de Basterot, 1825. This identification was already doubted by Bellardi (1887a: 58), without providing an alternative name. We agree with Bellardi (1887a). Episcomitra incognita, from the Burdigalian of the north-eastern Atlantic, has a comparable outline, but is much larger (SL: 36 mm), more solid, and its spiral sculpture is even more delicate (see de Basterot 1825: 45, pl. 4, fig. 5, Peyrot 1928: 99, pl. 9, figs 15–16, 29–30). A specimen from the Aquitanian of France, described by Lozouet et al. (2001) as Mitra incognita, represents a stocky shell with a broad conical spire and therefore is strongly dissimilar to the Paratethyan species. Some Proto-Mediterranean species, originally lumped with Mitra incognita by Bellardi (1850), were later described as separate species (Episcomitra villalverniensis, Episcomitra afficta). None of these are conspecific with the Paratethyan species: the Pliocene Episcomitra villalverniensis (Bellardi, 1887) (SL: 27 mm) differs in its shouldered whorls and higher last whorl (see Bellardi 1887a: 44, pl. 3, fig. 20; Ferrero-Mortara et al. 1981: 153, pl. 45, fig. 1). The early Miocene Episcomitra afficta (Bellardi, 1887) (SL: 23 mm) is more slender and has more convex whorls (see Bellardi 1887a: 57, pl. 3, fig. 49; Ferrero-Mortara et al. 1981: 156, pl. 47, fig. 3) and the early Miocene Episcomitra subumbilicata (Bellardi, 1850) has higher and broader subcylindrical spire whorls (see Bellardi 1887a: 46, pl. 3, fig. 25; Ferrero-Mortara et al. 1981: 154, pl. 45, fig. 5).
Palaeoenvironment. Unknown.
Distribution in Central Paratethys. Badenian (middle Miocene): Ukrainian Fore-Carpathian Basin: Dryszczów (Nadrichne) (Ukraine) (Friedberg 1911), Făget Basin: Lăpugiu de Sus (Romania) (Hoernes and Auinger 1880).
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 17-19, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4983.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/4921887