Vesicomya margotae Beets, 1953

Kiel, Steffen, Aguilar, Yolanda M. & Kase, Tomoki, 2020, Mollusks from Pliocene and Pleistocene seep deposits in Leyte, Philippines, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 65 (3), pp. 589-627 : 606-607

Vesicomya margotae Beets, 1953

Fig. 18 .

1953 Vesicomya (Waisiuconcha) margotae sp. nov.; Beets 1953: 255, pl. 1: 11–15.

Material.— Seven specimens from the Pliocene of Liog-Liog Point : NMNS PM 28410 , 28411 , 28412 (five individuals) .

Dimensions (in mm).— NMNS PM 28410, L = 8.3, H = 6.9; NMNS PM 28411, L = 12.5, H = 10.0.

Remarks.— Vesicomya margotae has a hinge dentition like Vesicomya ( Beets 1953: pl. 1: 11, 15) and should therefore not be associated with Waisiuconcha . A very similar extant species is Vesicomya katsuae Kuroda, 1952 from 200–400 m depth in Sagami and Tosa Bays, Japan. That species has a Vesicomya -like hinge ( Kuroda 1952: figs. 7–9) and a lunular incision ( Kuroda 1952: fig. 5), which identifies it as a member of Vesicomya and not of Waisiuconcha (cf., Habe 1976b; Cosel and Salas 2001). Vesicomya margotae differs from V. katsuae by being less elongate and having larger and more elevated umbones. The extant Japanese species Vesicomya nakaii Okutani, 1962 , reported here from the late Pliocene of Cambantug Point (below), differs from both V. margotae and V. katsuae by being shorter and higher, and by having more prominent and elevated umbones.

Stratigraphic and geographic range.—Late Miocene: southern Sulawesi, Indonesia. Late Pliocene: Leyte, Philippines.

Figures

Fig. 18. The vesicomyid bivalve Vesicomya margotae Beets, 1953 from the late Pliocene seep deposit at Liog-Liog Point, Leyte, Philippines. A. NMNS PM 28410, articulated specimen, view on left valve (A1), dorsal view (A2), view on right valve (A3), note drill hole. B. NMNS PM 28411, isolated left valve, view on exterior (B1), dorsal view showing lunular incision, (B2), view on inner side (B3), and close-up on hinge dentition (B4).