Morula (Habromorula) austriaca (Hoernes et Auinger, 1882)

Kovács, Zoltán, 2018, Muricidae (Neogastropoda) assemblages from the Middle Miocene of the Făget Basin (Romania) in the collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Fragmenta Palaeontologica Hungarica 35, pp. 111-142 : 135

Morula (Habromorula) austriaca (Hoernes et Auinger, 1882)

(Figs 69–70)

1882 Purpura (Sistrum) austriaca – HOERNES & AUINGER, p. 153, pl. 16, figs 14–17.

1966 Thais (Stramonita) austriaca Hoernes & Auinger – STRAUSZ, p. 283, pl. 35, figs 4–5, 10–12 (cum syn.).

non 1981 Thais (Stramonita) austriaca Hoernes & Auinger – KRACH, p. 69, pl. 22, fig. 10 [= Janssenia spinosa ( Kojumdgieva, 1960) ].

Material – 3 specimens; Lăpugiu: M.60.7948, M.60.7954D–E.

Remarks – As the supraspecific classification of the species is uncertain, a revised description is provided here. Shell length max. 25 mm, protoconch of two smooth and rounded whorls, high spire, teleoconch of five shouldered whorls with slightly concave sutural ramp. Last whorl 68.7% of the total length. Narrow, ovate aperture, well-developed anal notch, six denticles within outer lip, columella smooth, siphonal canal short, open, slightly recurved. Spiral sculpture of four primary cords with narrow secondary cords on the last whorl, axial sculpture of 8–9 rounded ribs on the spire whorls, 7 ribs on the last whorl.

The size and morphology of austriaca are closely allied to Habromorula. Fossil species of the subgenus are known in the Middle Miocene Paratethys ( Poland) and the Proto-Mediterranean Sea (S France). H. austriaca is rare but widespread in the Early Badenian Central Paratethys. It was described from the Vienna Basin and Lăpugiu de Sus, later recorded from Várpalota ( Hungary), and new collecting works prove wide geographical range in the Pannonian Basin (Bánd, Letkés, Márkháza; Hungary).