Conilithes dujardini ( Deshayes, 1845 )

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 : 40

Conilithes dujardini ( Deshayes, 1845)

(Figs 105–108)

1845 Conus Dujardini – DESHAYES, p. 158.

2014 Conilithes dujardini (Deshayes) – KOVÁCS & VICIÁN, p. 92, figs 157–159 (cum syn.).

Material – 220 specimens – Coşteiu: M 60.7540., 60.8934., 60.8940.A- G., 60.9864., 60.9866., 60.9868. (22 spp.), 60.9873.C-I., 60.9875., 60.9885.A- E., 60.9887. (22 spp.), 60.9889., 60.9898.A-C., 60.10070.A-B., 60.10276.A- D.; Lăpugiu: M 60.7739.A-F., 60.8276. (39 spp.), 60.8308.A-C., 60.8319.J-S., 60.8323.I-J., 60.8340. (49 spp.), 60.8919.E-F., 60.8921.A-G., 60.8925., 60.8936., 68.595.A-K., 68.600.B., 68.596.B-C., 68.607.A-B.; Nemeşeşti: M 60.8108.A-E., 60.8118.

Description – SL: 5–38. Spire high, outline straight to concave. Apical whorls tuberculate. Spiral whorls smooth to finely striate. Shoulder angulate in early whorls, carinate in the last whorl. Body whorl conical, outline concave, either smooth with spiral grooves from the base up to the mid-height or fully ornamented with fine grooves. Subsutural flexure asymmetrically curved, deep. Colour pattern: spiral rows of small dots.

Remarks – Taxonomical problems of the species was recently discussed by KOVÁCS & VICIÁN (2014). The identity of C. dujardini and C. exaltatus (Eichwald) requires further research. In the Făget Basin assemblages the proportion of fully ornamented specimens is lower than in the Letkés material. The ornamentation shows fine gradation from smooth to fully ornamented body whorl in the material described here. C. canaliculatus differs in shell proportion, growth of the spire, in less raised and inclined spiral whorls, non carinate shoulder, and in colour pattern (see CAZE et al. 2010, fig. 5/N, LANDAU et al. 2013, pl. 82, fig. 5, and PAGANELLI 2014, pl. 5, fig. 3).

Distribution – Middle Miocene: Atlantic ( France, Portugal), North Sea ( Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands), Paratethys ( Austria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldavia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine), Mediterranean ( Greece, Italy, Libya, Turkey).