Dizoniopsis sp, Thivaiou, Harzhauser & Koskeridou, 2019

Thivaiou, Danae, Harzhauser, Mathias & Koskeridou, Efterpi, 2019, Early Miocene Gastropods from the Felli Section (Proto-Mediterranean Sea NW Greece), Geodiversitas 41 (8), pp. 323-366 : 337-338

Dizoniopsis sp .

(Fig. 5D1-D3)

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Sample F11: AMPG (IV) 2445-2447 (three specimens).

DIMENSIONS. — Maximum height: 3.20 mm.

DISTRIBUTION. — Early Miocene: Proto-Mediterranean Sea: Greece (this paper).

DESCRIPTION

Protoconch missing. Early teleoconch whorls are flat; sculpture consists of two equidistant rows of regularly-spaced rounded beads. The abapical row of beads also has a faint spiral cord between beads. Microsculpture consists only of very fine orthocline growth lines. On later whorls the upper row becomes more elongated axially and forms an angle at the suture. A spiral cord is present abapically on the suture. The base has two spiral cords; small columellar fold; aperture missing.

REMARKS

The morphology of the teleoconch and outline of the present species is similar to Cerithiopsis (s.l.) cf. bilineata (Hoernes, 1848) present in the Serravallian of Turkey ( Landau et al. 2013). The protoconch is an important character for species-level identification, as it is missing from the recovered specimens, a precise identification is not possible.

Vatopsis bimonilifera (Sandberger, 1859) from the Oligocene of France ( Lozouet & Maestrati 2012) is very similar to the present specimen; species of Vatopsis all have a spiral as well as an axial sculpture on protoconch whorls.

Cerithiopsis species are feeding on sponges in environments down to 200 m ( Marshall 1978).