Vitta picta ( Férussac, 1823 )

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 : 328-330

Vitta picta ( Férussac, 1823)

(Fig. 3 C1-C4)

Neritina picta Férussac in Férussac & Deshayes, 1823 : pl. 2, figs 4-7.

Agapilia picta – Landau et al. 2013: 36, pl. 2, figs 11-14; pl. 54, fig. 7 (cum syn.).

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Sample F1: AMPG ( IV) 1543-1547 (five specimens); sample F2: 1548-1573 (26 specimens); sample F3: AMPG ( IV) 1574, 1575 (two specimens); sample F7: AMPG ( IV) 1576-1593 (18 specimens) ; sample F8: AMPG ( IV) 1594-1595 (two specimens).

DIMENSIONS. — Maximal height 6 mm. Operculum: maximum height 1.67 mm.

DISTRIBUTION. — Oligocene. NE Atlantic: France ( Cossmann & Peyrot 1917; Lozouet et al. 2001); Western Tethys-Eastern Proto-Mediterranean Sea: Greece, Iran ( Harzhauser 2004), Italy ( Esu & Girotti 2010); Paratethys: Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany ( Landau et al. 2013).

Early Miocene. NE Atlantic: France ( Cossmann & Peyrot 1917; Lozouet et al. 2001); Proto-Mediterranean Sea: Italy; Greece ( Harzhauser & Kowalke 2001).

Middle Miocene. NE Atlantic: France ( Cossmann & Peyrot 1917; Lozouet et al. 2001); Proto-Mediterranean Sea: Greece (Harzhaus- er & Kowalke 2001), Turkey ( İslamoğlu 2008); Paratethys: Austria ( Schaffer 1912; Harzhauser & Mandic 2001).

Middle Miocene. NE Atlantic: France ( Cossmann & Peyrot 1917); Proto-Mediterranean Sea: Turkey ( Landau et al. 2013); Paratethys: Austria ( Hörnes 1856), Ukraine ( Bałuk 1975), Hungary ( Strausz 1966), Slovakia, Bulgaria, Bosnia ( Landau et al. 2013).

REMARKS

A long list of synonymy is provided in Landau et al. (2013); it includes a list of subspecies and forms that have been published due to the wide morphological range, the resemblance to other Neritidae and the variation of the colour patterns. These colour patterns are usually well preserved even in fragmented specimens and vary from thin zigzag patterns on the entire shell to rather uniformly coloured shells with white flammulae. Two light spiral bands may occur, separating the axial patterns.

Opercula were recovered only when still attached to the shell, therefore only the external side is observable.

The morphology of the shell is somewhat variable and larger specimens may be shouldered. Apertural dentition does not alter with ontogeny; the colour pattern is also present since early ontogenetic stages.

Vitta picta is an indicator of brackish or marine littoral environments ( Esu & Girotti 2010), in the Oligocene it is abundant in the ‘ Polymesoda-Tympanotonos ’ and ‘ Tympanotonos-Pirenella ’ assemblages as defined by Báldi (1973) ( İslamoğlu 2008).

Figures

FIG. 3. — A1-A4, Paroxystele orientale (Cossmann & Peyrot, 1917), AMPG(IV) 1506; B1-B3, Homalopoma acaste n. sp., holotype, AMPG(IV) 1512; C1, C2, Vitta picta (Férussac,1823),AMPG(IV) 1517; C3, AMPG(IV) 1543 (SEM image);C4, AMPG(IV) 1544 protoconch (SEM image); D1-D4, Neritilia neritinoides (Cossmann & Peyrot, 1917); D1, AMPG(IV) 1517; D2, AMPG(IV) 1541 (SEM image); D3, D4, AMPG(IV) 1541 protoconch close-ups; E1, E2, Plesiotrochus fallax (juv.) (Grateloup, 1832), AMPG(IV) 1605; F1-F3, Melanopsis sp., AMPG(IV) 2276. Scale bars: A, C1, C2, E2, 1 mm; B, 2 mm; C3, D3, 100 µm; C4, D1, E1, F, 500 µm; D2, 200 µm; D4, 50 µm.