Pusia brevior ( Friedberg, 1911 ) Harzhauser & Landau, 2021

Harzhauser, Mathias & Landau, Bernard, 2021, An overlooked diversity-the Costellariidae (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda) of the Miocene Paratethys Sea, Zootaxa 4982 (1), pp. 1-70 : 46-47

Pusia brevior ( Friedberg, 1911) nov. comb.

Figs 18C 1 –C 2

* Turricula recticosta Bell. var. brevior mihi.— Friedberg 1911: 24, pl. 1, fig. 17.

Turricula recticosta Bell. var. brevior Friedb. — Friedberg 1938: 132.

Type material. Lectotype (designated herein): SL. 12.0 mm, MD: 5.0 mm, Hołubica ( Ukraine), stored in the State Museum of Natural History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Lviv (formerly Muzeum Dzieduszyckich), illustrated in Friedberg (1911: 24, pl. 1, fig. 17). Unfortunately, it was not possible to obtain pictures of the lectotype and we reproduce the illustration from Friedberg (1911), figs 18C 1 –C 2.

Revised description (based on description and illustration in Friedberg, 1911). Shell moderately large, stout fusiform to biconical. Protoconch multispiral, high conical, mammillate, of three smooth, weakly convex, whorls. Teleoconch boundary marked by beginning of axial sculpture. Teleoconch of five convex whorls, with periphery slightly below mid-whorl, separated by incised suture. Axial sculpture of prominent, close-set axial ribs, separated by narrower interspaces (16–20 axial ribs on penultimate whorl), crossed by delicate spiral threads, most prominent in axial interspaces. Slightly deeper spiral groove separates nodulose subsutural spiral cord. Last whorl evenly convex, strongly constricted. Aperture narrow, elongate. Columellar callus narrow, indistinct. Columella with four folds, abapically decreasing in strength. Outer lip thin, prominent lirae inside aperture. Four prominent spiral cords on fasciole, partly from extensions of columellar folds. Siphonal canal moderately long, narrow, straight, with deep siphonal notch.

Shell measurements and ratios. SL: 10–12 mm, MD: 4.2–5.0 mm; AA: 40°.

Discussion. This species is characterised by its dense axial/spiral sculpture. At first sight, the illustration in Friedberg (1911) is reminiscent of an Antithala species. The thin outer lip, the wider aperture with lirae inside, and the presence of delicate spiral cords in the axial interspaces exclude a closer relationship with that genus. Pusia brevior was established by Friedberg (1911) as variety of Mitra recticosta Bellardi, 1850 , but differs from this Pliocene Italian species distinctly by its squatter shape, the presence of spiral sculpture, the smaller size, and wider apical angle. The absence of spiral sculpture distinguishes also Pusia confunda nov. sp., from P. brevior , which develops a similar shape. Pusia schafferi Meznerics, 1933 has comparable sculpture, but is much more slender and has a higher spire.

Palaeoenvironment. Unknown.

Distribution in Central Paratethys. Badenian (middle Miocene): Polish Fore-Carpathian Basin: Borki Wielkie ( Poland) ( Friedberg 1911); Voronyaky Hills: Hołubica (Holubytsia) ( Ukraine) ( Friedberg 1911).

Figures

FIGURE 1. A. Map of central and southeastern Europe, representing the area that was partly covered by the Central Paratethys Sea (for detailed maps with the localities mentioned in the text see Kroh (2005) and Nosowska (2020). The white insert corresponds to the area that is restored in the palaeogeographic map below. B. Paleogeography of the Middle Miocene Paratethys Sea (modified from Harzhauser et al. 2007) showing the most important sedimentary basins (NAFB: North Alpine Foreland Basin, E–Sopr B: Eisenstadt–Sopron Basin).

FIGURE 2. Measurements to shell morphology and whorl profiles. SL: shell length, MD: maximum diameter, AA: apical angle, LWH: last whorl height, AH: aperture height. AL: aperture length. AW: aperture width. S: length of siphonal canal.

FIGURE 18 A. Tosapusia neudorfensis (Schaffer, 1898), reproduction of illustration of syntype by Schaffer (1898, fig. 5). B.