Isara H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853

Harzhauser, Mathias & Landau, Bernard, 2021, The Mitridae (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda) of the Miocene Paratethys Sea, Zootaxa 4983 (3), pp. 1-72 : 43

Genus Isara H. Adams & A. Adams, 1853

Type species. Mitra bulimoides Reeve, 1845 [= M. glabra Swainson, 1821 ], subsequent designation by Cossmann (1899: 153). Present-day, Indo-West Pacific.

Diagnosis. “ Shell medium sized to large (30–100 mm), fusiform to turriform, lightly sculptured, light or dark brown due to well-developed periostracum. Suture distinct, impressed. Spire high to very high; teleoconch whorls gently convex to flattened, sculptured by regular or occasional spiral grooves, or smooth, often with a microsculpture of fine collabral growth lines. Siphonal canal short with well-developed fasciole to moderately long and tapering. Siphonal notch shallow or absent. Aperture elongate, rather wide; outer aperture lip evenly convex or straight in its adapical portion and strongly convex anteriorly. Inner lip with four columellar folds, the anteriormost notably weaker ” ( Fedosov et al., 2018: 65).

Discussion. As discussed by Fedosov et al. (2018) it is impossible to separate Episcomitra and Isara based on conchological features alone. Therefore, some of the species placed herein in Episcomitra might belong to Isara . Herein, we place only Mitra hoernesi Mayer, 1864 in Isara , as it is morphologically closely similar to the presentday Isara cornea ( Lamarck, 1811) .

Present-day distribution. Isara has a wide distribution including the Western Mediterranean Sea, the Azores, the Caribbean, West Africa and the Indo-Pacific ( Fedosov et al. 2018) .