Episcomitra bonellii ( Bellardi, 1850 ) Harzhauser & Landau, 2021

Harzhauser, Mathias & Landau, Bernard, 2021, The Mitridae (Gastropoda: Neogastropoda) of the Miocene Paratethys Sea, Zootaxa 4983 (3), pp. 1-72 : 10

Episcomitra bonellii ( Bellardi, 1850) nov. comb.

* Mitra Bonellii Bell. — Bellardi 1850: 369, pl. 1, figs 21–22.

Mitra Bonellii Bell. — Bellardi 1887a: 76, pl. 4, fig. 19.

Mitra bonellii Bellardi, 1887 —Ferrero-Mortara et al. 1981: 160, pl. 49, fig. 4.

Mitra (Tiara) bonellii Bellardi, 1850 — Bałuk 1997: 28, pl. 11, fig. 9.

Cancilla (Ziba) bonellii (Bellardi, 1887) — Davoli 2000: 192, pl. 3, fig. 8.

Cancilla (Ziba) bonellii (Bellardi, 1887) — Chirli 2002: 47, pl. 23, figs 3–8.

Type material. Syntype illustrated in Bellardi (1887a, pl. 4, fig. 19) and Ferrero-Mortara et al. (1981, pl.49, figs 4), stored in the Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali , Torino ( BS. 019.01.161), Pliocene, Villalvernia ( Italy) .

Revised description (based on Paratethyan material). Shell medium sized, moderately stout fusiform with weakly impressed suture. Protoconch and early teleoconch whorls unknown. Spire weakly cyrtoconoid. Spire whorls nearly straight sided with periphery at abapical suture. Sculpture on spire whorls of flattish spiral cords (seven on penultimate whorl) separated by narrow, punctate spiral interspaces. Last whorl weakly convex, only weakly constricted, without basal concavity. Sculpture on last whorl of about 15 broad, flattish spiral cords, narrowing on base. Aperture moderately narrow. Columellar callus broad, thin. Columella with four prominent oblique columellar folds. Siphonal canal not preserved.

Discussion. Bałuk (1997) identified a single incomplete specimen from Korytnica ( Poland) as Mitra bonellii . We have not studied the Polish material, but the illustrated specimen agrees well with the syntype of Episcomitra bonellii illustrated in Ferrero-Mortara et al. (1981) and other Pliocene specimens described by Chirli (2002). Some doubts, however, remain due to the fragmentary preservation and the large stratigraphic gap between the occurrences.

Palaeoenvironment. Unknown.

Distribution in Central Paratethys. Badenian (middle Miocene): Korytnica Basin: Korytnica ( Poland) ( Bałuk 1997).

Proto-Mediterranean Sea. Po Basin: Montegibbio ( Italy) ( Davoli 2000).

Mediterranean Sea. Pliocene: Po Basin: Villalvernia ( Italy) (Ferrero-Mortara et al. 1981); Toscana, Sicily ( Italy) ( Chirli 2002); Estepona ( Spain) ( Vera-Peláez et al. 1996).