Varioconus pseudoponderosus ( Glibert, 1952 )

Kovács, Zoltán & Balázs, Péter, 2015, Conidae (Neogastropoda) assemblage from the Middle Miocene of the Făget Basin (Romania) in the collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Fragmenta Palaeontologica Hungarica 32, pp. 11-48 : 34

Varioconus pseudoponderosus ( Glibert, 1952)

(Figs 79–80)

1952 Conus (Chelyconus) pseudoponderosus Dollfus et Dautzenberg mss., nov. sp. – GLIBERT, p. 376, pl. 13, fig. 4.

1966 Conus (Chelyconus) pseudoponderosus Dollfus et Dautzenberg (in Glibert) – STRAUSZ, p. 463, pl. 68, figs 6–7.

1973 Conus (Chelyconus) pseudoponderosus Glibert – BOHN-HAVAS, p. 1122, pl. 7, fig. 4, pl. 9, fig. 12.

2010 Conus pseudoponderosus Glibert – VAESSEN, p. 12, figs 10/C, 15–17, 18/B.

Material – 2 specimens – Coşteiu: M 60.9878.B.; Lăpugiu: M 60.8958.

Description – SL: 47–48.5. Spire moderately high, outline straight. Spiral whorls convex, smooth, suture deep. Shoulder rounded. Body whorl conical, outline straight, smooth with fine spiral ridges at the base. Subsutural flexure asymmetrically curved, of moderate depth.

Remarks – This rare species was regarded as a synonym of V. ponderosus by HALL (1964) and by KOVÁCS & VICIÁN (2014). However, the morphological features allow acceptance of the validity, so here we follow the recent classification of VAESSEN (2010). V. pseudoponderosus differs from both V. clavatulus and V. ponderosus in lower spire with straight outline and in broader shell. The species is probable a transitional form between V. ponderosus and V. conoponderosus .

Distribution – Middle Miocene: Atlantic ( France), Paratethys ( Hungary, Romania).