Sigmesalia, Finlay & Marwick, 1937

Harzhauser, Mathias & Landau, Bernard, 2019, Turritellidae (Gastropoda) of the Miocene Paratethys Sea with considerations about turritellid genera, Zootaxa 4681 (1), pp. 1-136 : 109

Sigmesalia sp. (non in Paratethys)

Turritella acuta Mayer, 1858 — Höltke, 2009: 83, figs 27a–27b [non Turritella acuta Mayer, 1858 ].

Discussion. Höltke (2009) reported Turritella acuta Mayer from the early Miocene of Ermingen ( Germany). Turritella acuta was originally described by Mayer (1858: 298, pl. 11, fig. 7) from the Burdigalian of Léognan in France. Mayer (1858) described a small and slender shell with wide-spaced narrow primaries and weak secondary spiral cords (see specimen illustrated by Cossmann & Peyrot 1922: https://science.mnhn.fr/taxon/species/turritella/ acuta).

We have studied four specimens from the Naturkunde Museum Stuttgart ( Germany), which Höltke (2009) had at hand, and these undoubtedly represent Sigmesalia Finlay & Marwick, 1937 (type species: Turritella sulcata Lamarck, 1822 ). The genus is characterized by a very wide lateral sinus and a markedly prosocyrt basal sinus ( Marwick 1957) ( Fig 6O ) and did not pass the Paleogene/Neogene boundary. Based on the preservation and some attached sediment, the specimens derive most probably from the Eocene of the Paris Basin.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Growth line traces of Turritellidae species based on own data; bold: type species of genera; black: Paratethyan species; asterisk: non-Paratethyan species (unknown basal sinuses are left blank).