Early Paleogene brackish-water molluscs from the Caballas Formation of the East Pisco Basin (Southern Peru)
Author
DeVries, Thomas J.
text
Journal of Natural History
2019
2018-12-17
53
25
1533
1584
journal article
10.1080/00222933.2018.1524032
034ebcd9-efa7-416a-822c-b6aee0e57a1c
1464-5262
3670229
Papposilenus
gen. nov.
Type
species:
Cerithium suprasulcatum
Gabb, 1873
. Oligocene,
Dominican Republic
. Species included:
Cerithium suprasulcatum
, Gabb, 1873;
Potamides ormei
Maury, 1917
;
Potamides infraliratus
Spieker, 1922
;
Papposilenus utriculus
sp. nov.
Diagnosis
Broadly convex spire. Three beaded spiral cords on later teleoconch whorls; beads quadrate, flattened. Varices and ventrolateral varix absent. Outer lip flaring, thickened. Columella without fold.
Description
Shell medium size, spire broad, weakly or moderately convex. Protoconch unknown. Sutures thinly incised, impressed. All whorls with three spiral cords, posteriormost cord strongest. Early teleoconch whorls with anteriormost cord beaded, other two cords beaded or not. Later whorls with all three cords beaded; beads quadrate, low or flattened, producing tessellated surface; posterior row of beds may be axially elongate. Spaces between beads aligned across spiral cords to form opisthocyrt axial groove coincident with growth lines; growth lines medially broadly sulcate. Varices and ventrolateral varix absent. Base with six or seven unbeaded spiral cords; cords closest to periphery with incipient beading. Outer lip thickened, flaring posteriorly, with groove emerging posteriorly and abaxially but without becoming a posterior canal. Anterior canal short, straight, excavated, twisted from an axial to transverse orientation, positioned well posterior to broad spatulate anterior margin of outer lip. Columella short, smooth; parietal area with moderately thick callus.
Remarks
Woodring (1959: 177)
listed characters shared by
Potamides suprasulcatus
, the
type
species of
Papposilenus
gen. nov.
, and
Potamides lamarckii
, the
type
species of
Potamides
, namely, the absence of varices on the spire, the absence of a ventrolateral varix, and the presence of a broadened outer lip and twisted anterior canal.
Woodring (1959)
also noted characters not shared: the coarsely beaded sculpture and the thickened outer lip of
P. suprasulcatus
.
Woodring (
1959
, 177) included four Miocene potamidids in his
‘
suprasulcatus
’
group, but none resemble
Papposilenus suprasulcatus
, nor the Caballas Formation species of
Papposilenus
described below, nor
Potamides
, sensu
Reid et al. (2008)
. Specimens of the Haitian
Potamides roumaini
Pislbry, 1910
have strong unbeaded spiral cords on all but the earliest spire whorls. Specimens of the Haitian
Potamides caobasensis
Pilsbry, 1910
are smooth on all whorls, except a prominent sutural ledge. Specimens of the Haitian
Potamides tippenhaueri
Woodring and Mansfield, 1924
have a keeled, unbeaded, posterior spiral cord on all whorls and two anteriorly situated beaded spiral cords. Specimens of
Potamides matsoni
Dall, 1913
, from the southeastern USA, have a relatively narrow spire and wide interspaces between several unbeaded spiral cords.
Potamidid taxa referred herein to
Papposilenus
had already been synonymised with
Potamides suprasulcatus
, including a Miocene species from
Venezuela
synonymised by
Hedberg (1937)
and Miocene species across the Caribbean and northern South America synonymised by
Woodring (1959)
, including
Potamides ormei
Maury, 1917
(
the Dominican
Republic and
Colombia
;
Weisbord 1929
),
Potamides ormei
var.
infraliratus
Spieker, 1922
(
Peru
;
Olsson 1932
), and
Potamides infraliratus
(
Ecuador
;
Marks 1951
). The discovery of Paleogene potamidids in southern
Peru
with broad spires and three coarsely tessellated spiral cords shows that the
‘suprasulcatus’
morphology spanned almost 40 million years while remaining restricted geographically to the Caribbean, northern South America, and north-western South America.
Etymology
‘
Papposilenus
’
, the elderly incarnation of the drunken, bald, overweight tutor and drinking companion of Bacchus, the god of wine; referencing the short, stout, coarsely featured taxa assigned to this genus.
Occurrence
Lower Paleogene, Cuenca Member, Caballas Formation, East Pisco Basin, southern
Peru
; Miocene, Florida through the Caribbean and to northern
Peru
.