Ergalatax seraphinae ( Boettger, 1902 )

Harzhauser, Mathias, Landau, Bernard M. & Merle, Didier, 2025, The Muricidae (Gastropoda, Muricoidea) of the Miocene Paratethys Sea (Aspellinae, Ergalataxinae, Coralliophilinae, Rapaninae), Zootaxa 5611 (1), pp. 1-106 : 50-51

Ergalatax seraphinae ( Boettger, 1902)

Figs 26 , 29A

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–A

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* Pollia seraphinae n. sp. — Boettger 1902: 34.

Pollia seraphinae Bttgr. — Boettger 1906: 31.

Cantharus (Pollia) seraphinae (Boettger) — Zilch 1934: 254, pl. 16, fig. 94.

non Ergalatax cf. seraphinae (Boettger, 1901) — Lozouet et al. 2001: 58, pl. 25, figs. 7a–b.

Type material. Lectotype designated by Zilch (1934: 254), SMF 373157 (old number:SMF XII 2242 a), Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt/Main, Germany, CoŞteiu de Sus ( Romania), illustrated in Zilch (1934: pl. 16, fig. 94).

Revised description. Small, stout, solid, biconic shell; apical angle 63°. Protoconch unknown. Teleoconch of up to five whorls. Suture weakly incised, moderately undulating. Early teleoconch whorls with steep, broad subsutural ramp, sharp shoulder angulation placed just above abapical suture. Eight axial ribs weakening adapically, forming blunt tubercles at shoulder. Broad SP appearing on third teleoconch whorl developing blunt, poorly defined, somewhat irregular tubercles, roughly alternating with tubercles on P1. Interspace between SP and P1 distinctly concave. Delicate adis, IP, and abis adjoined by tertiary threads. Last whorl attaining 67% of total height; with broad, concave subsutural ramp (with delicate adis, IP, and abis), convex periphery, slowly contracting below. P1– P4 prominent, trigonal in cross-section, with weaker s1–s3; P5 prominent, on siphonal canal. Growth lines weakly scabrose in spiral interspaces. Fasciole moderately swollen. Aperture narrowly ovate. Outer lip thickened with very prominent, rounded ID, D1–D4 close behind peristome. Anal canal deeply incised, accentuated by prominent parietal denticle and weaker anal denticle. Siphonal canal short, wide, open, slightly deflected to the left, shallowly notched. Columella straight with three weak columellar folds; abapical fold marking angled transition to siphonal canal. Columellar callus forming broad, adherent rim.

Discussion. This species was placed in the Pisaniidae genus Cantharus Röding, 1798 by Zilch (1934) but excluded from this family by Lozouet et al. (2001) and Harzhauser & Landau (2024). Herein, we follow Lozouet et al. (2001) and place Pollia seraphinae Boettger, 1902 in Ergalatax based on its striking similarity with the extant Indo-West Pacific species Ergalatax martensi ( Schepman, 1892) [senior synonym of Ergalatax obscura Houart, 1996 , see Merle 1999 (fig. 22F for the nomenclature of internal denticles and cords). They differ in the lower spire and more swollen subsutural cord of the Miocene species (see Houart 2008 for a review of this group). Moreover, E. martensi lacks columellar folds. Ergalatax seraphinae is characterized by its somewhat irregular, tubercular sculpture and the roughly trigonal cross-section of the primary cords. The specimen from the Aquitanian (Early Miocene) of Saucats ( France), identified by Lozouet et al. (2001) as Ergalatax cf. seraphinae (Boettger, 1901 [sic]) is morphologically closely related to the Paratethyan species but differs in its broader shell, lower spire, rounded as opposed to trigonal primary spiral cords and weaker secondary cords abis, adis and s2.

Paleoenvironment. Shallow marine, inner neritic.

Distribution in Central Paratethys. Badenian (Middle Miocene): Făget Basin: CoŞteiu de Sus ( Romania) ( Boettger 1906).

Genus Claremontiella Houart, Zuccon & Puillandre, 2019

Type species. Purpura nodulosa C. B. Adams, 1845 , original designation by Houart et al. (2019: 40). Present-day, western Atlantic.

Discussion. We place Murex pauli Hilber, 1882 [= Purpura (Sistrum) austriaca Hoernes & Auinger, 1882 ], Pollia augustae Boettger, 1902 and Pollia bellardii Hoernes & Auinger, 1890 , from the Middle Miocene of the Paratethys Sea, in Claremontiella . These are the first records of this genus from the European Neogene. Purpura (Sistrum) austriaca Hoernes & Auinger, 1882 was placed by Kovács et al. (2018) in Habromorula Houart, 1995a [type species Purpura biconica Blainville, 1832 ; present-day, Indo-West Pacific] but Habromorula differs in its ovoid shape and lacks the prominent P3 and P4 of Claremontiella .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Cord diagrams and apertural features of Aspellinae (Aspella, Attiliosa, Dermomurex).

FIGURE 3. A1–A2. Attiliosa evae (Kovács & Vicián, 2024). holotype, HNHM PAL 2024.8.1., Letkés (Hungary).B1–B2. Attiliosa juhaszi Kovács & Vicián, 2024. holotype, HNHM PAL 2024.1.1., Letkés (Hungary).

FIGURE 26. Cord diagrams and apertural features of Ergalataxinae.

FIGURE 29. A1–A3. Ergalatax seraphinae (Boettger, 1902). lectotype, SMF 373157, CoŞteiu de Sus (Romania).