Mesalia sovisi, Harzhauser & Landau, 2019

Harzhauser, Mathias & Landau, Bernard, 2019, Turritellidae (Gastropoda) of the Miocene Paratethys Sea with considerations about turritellid genera, Zootaxa 4681 (1), pp. 1-136 : 102-104

Mesalia sovisi new sp.

Figs 6 Ak, 28D 1 –D 2, 28E 1 –E 2

Turritella Fuchsi n. f. — Rzehak, 1894: 259 (nomen nudum) [non Turritella fuchsi Penecke, 1884 ].

Mesalia Fuchsi m. — Rzehak, 1922: 32 (nomen nudum).

Turritella Bellardii May. — Glaessner, 1926: 116 [non Turritella bellardii Mayer, 1866 ].

Turritella Bellardii May. var. carinulata Sacc. — Glaessner, 1926: 116 [non Turritella bellardii carinulata Sacco, 1895 ].

T [urritella]. (T [urritella].) bellardii carinulata Sacco — Sieber, 1958a: 138 [non Turritella bellardii carinulata Sacco, 1895 ].

Turritella (Turritella) bellardii bellardii Mayer — Sieber, 1960: 251 [non Turritella bellardii Mayer, 1866 ].

Turritella (Turritella) bellardii carinulata Sacco — Sieber, 1960: 251, pl. 1, fig. 29 [non Turritella bellardii carinulata Sacco, 1895 ].

Turritella (Turritella) bellardii bellardii Mayer — Stürmer, 1989: 103, pl. 2, fig. 7, pl. 10, fig. 3 [non Turritella bellardii Mayer, 1866 ].

Turritella (Turritella) bellardii carinulata Sacco — Stürmer, 1989: 104, pl. 2, fig. 6 [non Turritella bellardii carinulata Sacco, 1895 ].

Turritella (Turritella) bellardii Mayer, 1866 — Harzhauser, 2002: 77, pl. 2, figs 14–16 [non Turritella bellardii Mayer, 1866 ].

Types. Holotype NHMW 2018/0175/0001 ( Figs 28E 1 –E 2 ), height: 20.4 mm, width: 6.8 mm, Kroužek at Rousínov ( Czech Republic) . Paratype NHMW 2018/0175/0002 ( Figs D 1 –D 2 ), height: 21.8 mm, width: 6.7 mm, Kroužek at Rousínov ( Czech Republic) ; additional paratypes 1 spec. NHMW 1963/0523/0000 (illustrated in Sieber 1960, pl. 1, fig. 29), 3 spec. NHMW 2000z0001/0009 (illustrated in Harzhauser 2002), 223 spec. 1989/0038/0000, Teiritzberg- Stetten ( Austria) ; 1 spec. NHMW 1860/0001/0271, Pöls ( Austria) ; 1 spec. NHMW1862/0033/0044, Pöls ( Austria) ; 25 spec. NHMW 1861/0040/0386, 3 spec. NHMW 1858/0015/0172, Kroužek at Rousínov (= Raussnitz) ( Czech Republic) .

Type stratum. Marly clay (‘Tegel’) of the Baden Group.

Type locality. Kroužek at Rousínov (= Raussnitz) ( Czech Republic) .

Age. Middle Miocene, Badenian (= late Langhian).

Etymology. In honor of Dr. Wolfgang Sovis ( Austria) for his contributions to the research on the Neogene of the Korneuburg Basin.

Description. Shell small, moderately slender to broad, of about 10 teleoconch whorls. Protoconch paucispiral comprising <two whorls with low, convex first whorl. Transition into teleoconch not well preserved in available material, indicated by onset of spiral sculpture of about 5 delicate spiral threads, which do not allow a separation into primary and secondary cords. Early teleoconch whorls slightly angulated in mid-whorl or regularly convex. Later whorls convex; periphery slightly below mid-whorl, occasionally coinciding with faint angulation; another faint angulation may appear slightly below adapical suture. Suture moderately incised. Sculpture of late teleoconch whorls consisting of numerous spiral cords with rounded-flat tops (about 30–35 on last whorl) separated by narrower interspaces, which may bear delicate secondary threads. Lateral sinus with low angle; wide, moderately deep, simple concave with faintly sigmoidal part close below adapical suture; maximum depth in adapical half of whorl. Basal sinus very shallow, weakly prosocyrt. Spiral sculpture persists on moderately convex base. Aperture subcircular, slightly effusive abapically; outer lip thin. Columella strongly concave, inner lip solid, narrowly reflected. Delicate, oblique fold rarely developed on adapical part of inner lip. No inner lirae developed.

Shell measurements and ratios. Complete specimens (n=5): SL = 21.3 mm (σ = 0.8 mm), MD: 7.2 mm (σ = 0.3 mm); AA: μ = 26.8° (σ = 1.1°), PA: μ = 23.6° (σ = 0.6°). Lateral sinus (n = 5): LS angle = 3.3° (σ = 1.4°), LS p = 0.5 (σ = 0.16), LS d = 5.8 (σ = 1.0).

Discussion. Glaessner (1926) was the first to identify the specimens from the lower Miocene deposits of the Korneuburg Basin in Austria as Turritella bellardii Mayer, 1866 and T. bellardii carinulata Sacco, 1895 . These identifications were uncritically adopted by subsequent authors, such as Sieber (1960) and Harzhauser (2002). Turritella bellardii Mayer, 1866 (and the variety carinulata ) were originally described from the Burdigalian of the Torino Hills. The Illustration in Mayer (1866: pl. 3, fig. 3) shows a very slender shell with nearly flat sided whorls, which has little in common with the Paratethyan species. Sacco (1895) emphasized that the description by Mayer (1866) does not fully correspond to his illustration; e.g. Mayer (1866) described the whorls as rather convex ‘satis convexis ’ and mentioned ‘at least 18 whorls’, whereas his figure shows about nine whorls. Sacco (1895, 1904) provided additional descriptions and illustrations of specimens from the Torino Hills, showing shells with more pronounced suture and weakly convex whorls. Nevertheless, all these specimens are slenderer than the Paratethyan shells, their spire whorls are higher and fully-grown specimens of T. bellardii are distinctly larger than Mesalia sovisi .

Glaessner (1926) and subsequent authors overlooked that Rzehak (1894) had already discussed the Paratethyan species as Turritella fuchsi . This name, however, is a nomen nudum and the announced description has never been published. Moreover, Turritella fuchsi is preoccupied by an Eocene species described by Penecke (1884). Despite these nomenclatorial problems, which make Turritella fuchsi unavailable, Rzehak (1922) was also the first who placed this species in Mesalia (as Mesalia fuchsi ). The morphology of the lateral sinus and basal sinus along with the (not always well developed) oblique ridge on the inner lip confirms this placement in Mesalia .

Mesalia fallaciosa Chavan, 1940 , from the late Miocene of Dar-bel-Hamri in Morocco, is similar but differs in its narrower apical angle, strongly convex whorls and the circular aperture (See Chavan 1940; pl. 2, figs 4–7).

Paleoenvironment. The specimens from Kroužek at Rousínov derive from marly-clay, indicating at least me- dium-deep sublittoral environments. Nevertheless, transport from coastal environments into deeper settings via gravity flows has been described from the area by Holcová et al. (2015). In the Korneuburg Basin, all occurrences are bound to foreshore sands (herein). Similarly, the occurrence at Pöls in Styria suggests a preference for lagoonal environments ( Gross et al. 2007). Stable isotope analyses of specimens from the Korneuburg Basin by Latal et al. (2006) indicate fully marine conditions and a separation from coastal mudflat taxa dwelling under changing salinity regimes.

Distribution. Central Paratethys. Karpatian: Korneuburg Basin: Stetten-Teiritzberg ( Austria) ( Harzhauser 2002); Badenian: Carpathian Foreland Basin: Kroužek at Rousínov ( Czech Republic); Styrian Basin: Pöls ( Austria) (herein).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Paleogeography of the Paratethys during the early Miocene (Burdigalian, Eggenburgian, Sakaraulian) and the middle Miocene (Langhian, Badenian, Tarkhanian) (modified after Popov et al. 2004 and Neubauer et al. 2015).

FIGURE 2. Miocene chronostratigraphy after Gradstein et al. (2012) with regional Paratethys stages after Popov et al. (2004) and Piller et al. (2007).

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).

FIGURE 28. A–C. Mesalia styriaca new sp., Wetzelsdorf Wenzelsteffi (Austria). A. Holotype, UMJG&P 74.587-1. B1–B2. Paratype, UMJG&P 74.587-2. C. Paratype, UMJG&P 74.587-3. D–E. Mesalia sovisi new sp., Kroužek at Rousínov (Czech Republic). D1–D2. Paratype, NHMW 2018/0175/0002. E1–E2. Holotype, NHMW 2018/0175/0001. F–H. Mesalia bohnhavasae new sp., Pécsszabolcs (Hungary). F. Holotype, MBFSZ 6231. G. Paratype, MBFSZ 6271. H. Paratype, MBFSZ 6254.