Conilithes brezinae ( Hoernes & Auinger, 1879 )

Psarras, Christos, Koskeridou, Efterpi & Merle, Didier, 2021, Late Miocene Conidae (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of Crete (Greece). Part 1: genera Conilithes Swainson, 1840 and Conus (Kalloconus) da Motta, 1991, Geodiversitas 43 (24), pp. 1309-1339 : 1313-1315

Conilithes brezinae ( Hoernes & Auinger, 1879)

( Figs 2 , 3 ; Table 1 )

Conus (Leptoconus) brezinae Hoernes & Auinger, 1879: 36 .

Conus (Leptoconus) brezinae Hoernes, 1878: 195 , nomen nudum.

Conus dujardini – Hörnes 1851: 40 (partim), pl. 5, figs 8a-f. — Symeonidis 1965: 290-291, pl. 63, figs 5-6. — Symeonidis & Konstantinidis 1968: pl. 81, figs 9-12. — Caze 2010: fig. 33D-E.

Conus (Conospirus) dujardini – Dermitzakis 1969: pl. 79, fig. 8.

Conilithes brezinae – Harzhauser & Landau 2016: 48-50, tables 1-2 , figs 3F, 5D 1 -D 3, 5E 1 -E 3, 5F 1 -F 3, 5G 1 -G 3, 5H.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Syntype NHMW 1999z0077/0023a, illustrated in Hörnes (1851: pl. 5, fig. 8a), syntype NHMW 1999z0077/0023b, illustrated in Hörnes (1851: pl. 5, fig. 8b), syntype NHMW 1999z0077/0023c, illustrated in Hörnes (1851: pl. 5, fig. 8c), syntype NHMW 1999z0077/0023d, illustrated in Hörnes (1851: pl. 5, fig. 8d), syntype NHMW 1999z0077/0023e, illustrated in Hörnes (1851: pl. 5, fig. 8e). TYPE LOCALITY. — Steinebrunn ( Austria). Middle Miocene (late Langhian). STRATIGRAPHIC RANGE. — Langhian Paratethys (see Harzhauser & Landau 2016 for detailed references) and Tortonian of Greece (commonly found in all of the shallow marine Tortonian Formations of Crete).

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Greece. Crete (precise localities unknown), 17 specimens: MNHN.F. A72565 , MNHN.F. A72566 , MNHN.F. A72571 to MNHN.F. A72584 and AMPG(IV) 2788 ; Filippi, 11 specimens: AMPG(IV) 2624-2629 , 2631 , 2633-2636 ; Partira, four specimens: (three specimens MNHN.F. A72568 to MNHN.F. A72570 and one specimen AMPG(IV) 2610 ); Tefeli, three specimens: AMPG(IV) 2630 , 2632 , 2637 ; Adhraktia, one specimen: MNHN.F. A72567 ; Psalidha, 13 specimens: AMPG(IV) 2611-2623 . All of them display colour patterns under UV light.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COLOUR PATTERN

Main colour pattern of this species consists of flammulae on spire whorls ( Fig. 3 ), dots on carina ( Fig. 3 ) and a nonfluorescent band below carina with small to tiny spiral rows of dots ( Fig. 3 ). On the last whorl, this species bears spiral lines of dots usually interspersed with continuous spiral lines, on a non-fluorescent base colour. A non-fluorescent band on the anterior part of last whorl exists in most specimens ( Fig. 2 ), surrounded by fluorescent bands ( Fig. 3 ). The colour pattern variability of this species results from the ratio of the alternation between continuous spiral lines and other discontinuous lines making small dots (e.g., Fig. 2F, H ), as well as the existence of one or two non-fluorescent bands at the last whorl (e.g., Fig. 2C, I, K ). Minor pattern variations are the axial fluorescent bands and the existence of fluorescent bands, as a result of dots and lines coalescing.

REMARKS

Symeonidis (1965), Symeonidis & Konstantinidis (1968), Dermitzakis (1969), Merle et al. (1988) and Koskeridou (1997) reported this species from Crete, under the name of Conus dujardini ( Fig. 2Q ). Harzhauser & Landau (2016) noted that the taxon Conilithes dujardini ( Deshayes, 1845) had been used as a dumping ground for numerous Conilithes species. Harzhauser & Landau (2016) identified Conilithes brezinae and distinguished it from the Conilithes dujardini . The Cretan specimens are assigned to the species Conilithes brezinae , as they are morphologically identical. The specimens studied herein sometimes (one out of three specimens) possess 1-2 spiral grooves just under carina, but the grooves are not punctate, as in Conilithes exaltatus ( Eichwald, 1830) ( Harzhauser & Landau 2016) . They possess a shallow subsutural flexure ( Table 1 ), but since SSFD is a variable intraspecific character, we do not separate the material studied from the Paratethyan specimens (deep SSF, Harzhauser & Landau 2016). Harzhauser & Landau (2016) hypothesized the existence of this species in the Proto-Mediterranean ( Harzhauser & Landau 2016) and with our material, we confirm their hypothesis. A specimen, first identified as Conilithes dujardini ( Deshayes, 1845) from the Karaman Basin ( Landau et al. 2013), has been identified by Harzhauser & Landau 2016 as Conilithes brezinae . Unlike Conilithes brezinae from Crete and Paratethys, the Karaman specimen possesses a colour pattern of irregular fluorescent blotches ( Landau et al. 2013: 562, pl. 82, fig. 5). The horizontal non-fluorescent band, shared between the Karaman specimen and the Cretan specimens, is a pattern occurring in multiple extant and extinct Conus species (e.g., see herein Conilithes herodus n. sp. and Conilithes striatulus ( Brocchi, 1814)) . For these reasons, we prefer exclude that specimen from Conilithes brezinae until more specimens from Karaman are figured.

Figures

FIG. 2. — Conilithes brezinae (Hoernes & Auinger, 1879) specimens from the Tortonian of Crete (Greece), showing colour pattern variation under UV light in abapertural views: A, AMPG(IV) 2638, Panassos; B, AMPG(IV) 2610, Partira; C, MNHN.F.A72573, Crete; D, MNHN.F.A72579, Crete; E, MNHN.F.A72583, Crete; F, MNHN.F.A72570, Partira; G, AMPG(IV) 2637, Tefeli; H, AMPG(IV) 2629, Filippi; I, MNHN.F.A72577, Crete; J, MNHN.F.A72567, Adhraktia; K, MNHN.F.A72582, Crete;L, AMPG(IV) 2611,Psalidha;M, AMPG(IV) 2620,Psalidha;N, AMPG(IV) 2614,Psalidha;O, MNHN.F.A72565, Crete;P, AMPG(IV) 2612,Psalidha;Q, AMPG(IV) 2788: figured specimen of Symeonidis & Konstantinidis (1968: pl. 81, fig. 10), Crete. Scale bar: 1 cm.

FIG. 3. — Elements constituting the colour patterns of Conilithes brezinae (Hoernes & Auinger,1879),MNHN.F.A72565, Tortonian of Crete (Greece).Scale bar:1 cm.