Ovilia excassidea ( Sacco, 1894 ) Harzhauser & Landau, 2012

Harzhauser, Mathias & Landau, Bernard, 2012, A revision of the Neogene Cancellariid Gastropods of the Paratethys Sea 3472, Zootaxa 3472, pp. 1-71 : 32-33

Ovilia excassidea ( Sacco, 1894) nov. comb.

Figs 7C 1–C 3

Cancellaria cassidea Brocc. —Hörnes 1856: 682, pl. 52, figs 8a–b [non Voluta cassidea Brocchi, 1814 ].

? Cancellaria joachimi n. f.— Handmann 1882: 261 [nomen dubium].

Cancellaria cassidea Brocc. — Hoernes & Auinger 1890: 274 [non Voluta cassidea Brocchi, 1814 ].

Cancellaria (Trigonostoma) cassideum forma excassidea Sacco 1894: 8 .

Cancellaria (Trigonostoma) excassidea Sacco — Sieber 1936: 79.

Trigonostoma (T.) behmi (Beyr.) — Sieber 1958a: 154 [non Cancellaria Behmi Beyrich, 1856 ]

Trigonostoma (T.) behmi (Beyr.) — Sieber 1958b: 150 [non Cancellaria Behmi Beyrich, 1856 ]

Trigonostoma aff. dertocassideum Sacco, 1894 — Brunetti et al. 2011: 118, fig. 18L.

non Trigonostoma (Trigonostoma) excassideum Sacco, 1894 — Davoli 1982: 30, pl. 2, figs 9–11, 13 [? = Ovilia cassidea ( Brocchi, 1814) ].

Type material. NHM Vienna ( Austria); see below for details .

Studied and illustrated material. Figs 7C 1–C 3: specimen illustrated in Hörnes (1856, pl. 52, figs 8a–b), NHMW 1846 /0037/0288, holotype by monotypy .

Discussion. The globose shape, the canaliculate suture, the wide but shallow umbilicus and the wide aperture with convex outer lip require a placement of this species in Ovilia as defined by Cahuzac et al. (2004) and Landau et al. (2006). Sacco (1894) established the name excassidea for the specimen illustrated in Hörnes (1856) and thus referred to the Badenian shell from the Vienna Basin. It has a conspicuous spiral sculpture of primary to tertiary ribs, which cross broad axial ribs. The secondary and tertiary sculpture in the “window” between the primary spirals and the axial ribs is beaded. The shells from the Tortonian of the Italian Montegibbio, described by Davoli (1982) as Trigonostoma excassideum , differ from the Viennese type specimen in their rather ovoid outline, the narrower and steeper sutural ramp and the much narrower umbilicus. Moreover the spiral cords of the Italian shells are much less differentiated into primary and secondary cords compared to Ovilia excassidea . The identity of Davoli’s 1982 specimens needs re-evaluation; they might rather belong to the O cassidea- group.

Trigonostoma dertocassideum Sacco, 1894 , which is treated as likely synonym of T. excassideum by Davoli (1982), lacks the wide umbilicus, has a higher aperture and is clearly unrelated to this species.

In the Pliocene O. cassidea ( Brocchi, 1814) found throughout the Mediterranean and adjacent Atlantic differs significantly in having more regular and densely spaced spiral sculpture and a narrower umbilicus. Ovilia andaluciensis Landau, 1984 , which is known only from the Lower Pliocene Atlantic Guadalquivir Basin of southwestern Spain, has almost no gutter adjacent to the suture, an even more inflated last whorl resulting in a very wide aperture, and very weak axial sculpture.

Cancellaria joachimi seems to be a synonym of O. excassidea judging from the description of Handmann (1882). The correctly described but never illustrated type material of Handmann (1882), which was collected at Gainfarn in the Vienna Basin, is lost and we consider Cancellaria joachimi a nomen dubium.

Sieber (1958a, b) treated this species from the Vienna Basin as Trigonostoma behmi ( Beyrich, 1856) . This Rupelian species, however, differs clearly in its concave sutural shelf, the nodes on the shoulder and the less inflated last whorl.

Distribution. This rare species is known so far only from the Middle Miocene of the Paratethys. A closely related if not conspecific species is known from the late Middle Miocene of the Turkish Karaman Basin (BL collection). Ovilia excassidea was never found in the North Sea Basin as erroneously indicated by Davoli (1982).

Paratethys —Badenian: Vienna Basin ( Austria: Gainfarn, Steinebrunn).