Timbellus micropterus ( Deshayes, 1835 )

Kovács, Zoltán & Vicián, Zoltán, 2019, Muricidae (Neogastropoda) from the Middle Eocene of the Hungarian Paleogene Basin, Fragmenta Palaeontologica Hungarica 36, pp. 31-51 : 35

Timbellus micropterus ( Deshayes, 1835)

(Figs 3–7)

1835 Murex micropterus – DESHAYES, p. 596, pl. 82, figs 3–4.

1880 Murex (Pteronotus) parvulmicropterus De Gregorio – DE GREGORIO, p. 96, pl. 7, fig. 54.

1910–1913 Murex (Pteropurpura) micropterus (Deshayes) – COSSMANN & PISSARRO, pl. 35, fig. 169/3.

2011 Timbellus micropterus (Deshayes) – MERLE et al., p. 448, pl. 102, figs 1–5.

Material – HNHM INV 2020.22. (1), Coll. Gurdon (1), Coll. Vicián (1), Coll. Zsoldos (1).

Remarks – The specimens are rather worn or fragmentary but the shell proportions and traces of spiral cords agree with the T. micropterus material illustrated by MERLE et al. (2011, pl. 102, figs 1–5). The type of Murex parvulmicropterus De Gregorio is a fragmentary juvenile specimen. It corresponds in size and morphology to T. micropterus but slightly differs in sculpture with weakly developed intervarical nodes. M. parvulmicropterus was proposed as a junior synonym of T. micropterus by MERLE et al. (2011), this arrangement is accepted herein. The small Late Eocene–Early Oligocene Timbellus rigidus ( Oppenheim, 1901) (recorded from N Italy, S Czechia and S Poland) is a similar species but distinguishable by stratigraphic range and axial sculpture of marked, narrow intervarical ribs (see OPPENHEIM 1901, pl. 1, fig. 1; OPPENHEIM 1922, pl. 5, fig. 6; KRACH 1985, pl. 9, figs 8–10). T. micropterus is a new record in the HPB.

Distribution – Lutetian–Bartonian, NE Atlantic: Paris, Cotentin, and Loire Basin ( France), Hampshire Basin ( England), Alpine Tethys: San Giovanni Ilarione (N Italy), Hungarian Paleogene Basin: Dudar, Gánt, Tés.