Purpura haemastoma Linné

Sacchetti, Claudia, Landau, Bernard & Ávila, Sérgio P., 2023, The Lower Pliocene marine gastropods of Santa Maria Island, Azores: Taxonomy and palaeobiogeographic implications, Zootaxa 5295 (1), pp. 1-150 : 100

Purpura haemastoma Linné — Mayer 1864: 74.

Discussion. Mayer (1864: 74) recorded one specimen with certainty from Feteirinhas (= Ponta das Salinas) and a second doubtful specimen from Pinheiros. Stramonita haemastoma Linnaeus, 1767 is reported from the Pleistocene outcrops in Santa Maria Island, found in small numbers, in Prainha, Praia, Lagoinhas and the Vinha Velha deposits (Ávila, 2005; Ávila et al., 2002, 2009a, 2009b; 2015).

In the DBUA-F collection, we also examined specimens that were supposedly from Lower Pliocene outcrops from Santa Maria. On detailed examination of the shell preservation and the lack of matrix within the aperture of any of the specimens, from supposedly Pliocene strata, we could not convince ourselves that any of these specimens were truly Pliocene. Stramonita haemastoma lives in intertidal habitats, and shells found close to the Pliocene strata were probably transported by storms or birds. Therefore, this species is excluded from the Pliocene assemblages of Santa Maria pending further finds.