Conilithes sp.

Psarras, Christos, Koskeridou, Efterpi & Merle, Didier, 2021, Late Miocene Conidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of Crete (Greece). Part 1: genera Conilithes Swainson, 1840 and Conus (Kalloconus) da Motta, 1991, Geodiversitas 43 (24), pp. 1309-1339 : 1317-1319

Conilithes sp.

( Figs 7 , 8 ; Table 3 )

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Greece. One specimen, MNHN.F. A72593 Makrilia 35°03’42.4”N, 25°43’19.0”E, Ierapetra graben , Makrilia Fm, Tortonian. STRATIGRAPHIC RANGE. — Tortonian of Greece (Ierapetra Basin, Crete).

SHELL DESCRIPTION

Small-sized, conical shell. Protoconch multispiral ( Fig. 7A7 ). Early spire whorls high, conical, beaded on carina, straight, with a coeloconoid outline (coeloconoid: approaching conical shape but with concave sides). Late spire whorls scalate, straight to convex, with a slightly coeloconoid outline. Carina beaded on the 5-6 early teleoconch whorls only ( Fig. 7A ). Maximum diameter at angulated shoulder. Suture channelled. Subsutural flexure shallow, moderately curved, strongly asymmetrical ( Fig. 7A 3 ). Aperture narrow, straight. Last spire whorl straight, conical, narrow. Spiral grooves on the anterior part of last whorl. Fasciole indistinct.

DESCRIPTION OF COLOUR PATTERN

Colour pattern consists of thick flammulae on spire whorls. Colour pattern on last whorl consists of fluorescent blotches and closely related, bright fluorescent spiral lines-dashes, that are separated by non-fluorescent elongated dots and nonfluorescent axial blotches ( Fig. 8 ).

REMARKS

A species differing from Conilithes brezinae and Conilithes herodus n. sp. herein, in the strongly beaded early spire whorls (five or six) and the lower relative height of the spire (RSH) ( Table 3 ). Also, the shallow subsutural flexure diverges from the other species of Conilithes , but this species cannot be included in the genus Conasprella Thiele, 1929 (type species by subsequent designation ( Tucker & Tenorio 2009): Conus pagoda Kiener, 1847 ), as the last whorl of the shell lacks any sulci ( Harzhauser & Landau 2016). It differs from Conilithes allioni ( Michelotti, 1847) and Conilithes sceptophorus (Boettger, 1887) in the longer last whorl. It differs from Conilithes antidiluvianus ( Bruguière, 1792) in the less pronounced shoulder and less elevated spire whorls. As we have only one specimen, we refrain from naming it.

Figures

FIG. 7. — Conilithes sp. from the Tortonian of Crete (Greece), MNHN.F.A72593, Makrilia in apertural (A1, A5), abapertural (A2, A6) and apical (A4) views, under natural (A1-A4, A7) and UV light; A3, detail of the subsutural flexure (white line); A7, detail of the protoconch. Scale bars: A1-A2, A4-A6, 1 cm; A3, A7, 0.05 cm.

FIG. 8. — Elements constituting the colour pattern of Conilithes sp. (MNHN.F.A72593, Makrilia, Crete, Greece). Scale bar: 0.2 cm.

FIG. 3. — Elements constituting the colour patterns of Conilithes brezinae (Hoernes & Auinger,1879),MNHN.F.A72565, Tortonian of Crete (Greece).Scale bar:1 cm.