Lophophaena ? sp. C

Plate 23, Figs. 3A – 5B.

unknown plagonid group C sp 5, Trubovitz et al., 2020, supplementary data 7.

Remarks. This species has a pointed cephalis with at least one spine protruding from the top. Other, smaller spines are occasionally preserved on sides of cephalis. This species resembles L. nadezdae Petrushevskaya (Pl. 23, Figs. 1A – 2C) except that the cephalis comes to a point at the top rather than flattening into a rectangular shape. It also differs from L. nadezdae and the other species in this genus in that it has a discernable axobate. Only one specimen had this character well-preserved, but some of the others hint at a broken-off axobate that was not preserved. This species has some morphological similarities to the genus Antarctissa, so the genus assignment to Lophophaena is tentative.

Material examined. 7 specimens from samples 321-1337A-12H-5, 23–26cm (Late Miocene), 321-1337A-10H-2, 91–94cm (Early Pliocene), 321-1337A-6H-3, 29–32cm (Late Pliocene), 321-1337A-5H-5, 11–14cm (Late Pliocene), 321-1337A-4H-2, 16–19cm (Middle Pleistocene), 321-1337A-3H- 2, 103–106cm (Middle Pleistocene), and 321-1337A-2H-3, 76–79cm (Late Pleistocene).

Range. Late Miocene—Pleistocene, EEP (Table 1).