New Indo-Pacific species of the genus Teretia Norman, 1888 (Gastropoda: Raphitomidae)
Author
Morassi, Mauro
Author
Bonfitto, Antonio
text
Zootaxa
2015
3911
4
560
570
journal article
42319
10.11646/zootaxa.3911.4.5
881d3976-382b-4dee-b32f-cc50729a64cb
1175-5326
240271
A73BEF82-6D47-40FD-8EF0-206B1AB948F7
Genus
Teretia
Norman, 1888
Type
species
:
Pleurotoma anceps
Eichwald, 1830
Diagnosis.
Shell up to about
12 mm
in length, narrowly fusiform to fusiform, sculpture predominant spiral consisting of spiral cords of nearly equal strength or with a peripheral cord stronger than other cords. Axial growth lines forming at most weak plicules on subsutural ramp. Aperture lanceolate, outer lip simple forming a deep to very deep sinus immediately beneath the suture. Protoconch planktotrophic, narrowly conical with diagonally cancellate sculpture.
Remarks.
The genus
Teretia
Norman, 1888
was proposed as
nomen novum
for
Teres
Bucquoy, Dautzenberg and Dollfus, 1883
non
Boettger, 1878
, with
Pleurotoma anceps
Eichwald, 1830
, a European Miocene-Pliocene species, selected as type-species (see
Tucker 2004
for detailed references). The genus
Teretia
is documented in Europe at least from the early Miocene.
Janssen (1984)
reported six species from the Burdigalian of Winterswijk (
Netherlands
):
Teretia fusianceps
Nordsieck, 1972
,
T. anceps
Eichwald, 1830
and four unidentified species. In his revision on the Pliocene “turrids” from southern
Spain
,
Vera-Peláez (2002)
described
Teretia pentacarinifera
Vera-
Peláez, 2002
and
Teretia policarinarum
Vera-Peláez, 2002
from Málaga, two species morphologically similar to
Teretia anceps
and
T. teres
(Reeve, 1844)
. According to
Vera-Peláez (2002: 223)
, the specimen from the Pliocene of Roero (
Italy
) figured by
Cavallo & Repetto (1992: 134, fig. 356)
under the name
Stenodrillia sulciensis
(
Bellardi, 1877
)
belongs to
Teretia pentacarinifera
.
The online checklist of Italian Pliocene fossil “turrids” of the Italian Society of Malacology (SIM) (SIM Editorial Board, 2014) recognizes seven
Teretia
species, including the very poorly known
T. nana
(
Hornung, 1920
)
, and lists
T. intermedia
(
Foresti, 1874
)
as a full species while
Brunetti & Vecchi, 2003
treated this latter taxon as a “form” of
T. anceps
. The SIM checklist, however, makes no mention of
T. monterosatoi
(
Cipolla, 1914
)
considered a valid species by
Brunetti & Vecchi (2003)
. The latter authors stated that
T. fusianceps
from the Miocene of
Netherlands
is very similar to the Miocene-Pliocene
T. turritelloides
(
Bellardi, 1847
)
but did not explore this resemblance further.
Brunetti & Vecchi (2003: pl. 2 fig. 6)
figured a specimen from Monteveglio (Bologna,
Italy
) under the name
T. turritelloides
, but this specimen differs from the
syntype
of
T. turritelloides
photographed by
Ferrero Mortara
et al.
(1981
: plate 18, fig. 6) in having more prominent spiral sculpture and fewer secondary cords, and seems more similar morphologically to the specimen in the photograph of
T. fusianceps
from Winterswijk (Gelderland,
Netherlands
) published by the Natural History Museum of Rotterdam (NMR) (NMR Editorial Board, 2014).
Baluk (2003: 67)
considered
T. fusianceps
a synonym of
T. anceps
and figured three specimens under this name, two of which (
Figs. 1–2
) are comparable to
T. fusianceps
while the other has “typical” features of
T. anceps
.
Two additional fossil species described by
Seguenza (1880:258)
, namely
Homotoma cincta
and
H. multicingula
, both originally compared to
Teretia anceps
,
are currently accepted as members of
Teretia
(
Brunetti & Vecchi, 2003
)
. More recently,
Schnetler (2005)
described
Teretia guersi
from the Gram Formation, Late Miocene of
Denmark
, which was based on two specimens retaining only 1½ teleoconch whorls but morphologically distinctive.
Barnard (1958)
described
Acrobela acus
on the basis of examination of a few shells from Southern Africa. Although the species has a typical raphitomine diagonally cancellate protoconch, it was assigned to genus
Acrobela
Thiele, 1925
, which is currently regarded as a synonym of
Microdrillia
Casey, 1903
(see WoRMS Register) in the family
Borsoniidae
Bellardi, 1875
. In his revision of the borsoniine gastropods from Southern Africa,
Kilburn (1986: 635)
noted this discrepancy and suggested allocation of
A. acus
in
Teretia
. Althougth
Barnard (1958)
did not compare the Southern African species with
Teretia teres
, the two taxa are actually very similar and examination of the
type
material of
A. acus
would be necessary to more precisely define its morphological features and confirm specific distinction from
T. teres
. Following current literature (WoRMS Register),
A. acus
is here treated as a valid species belonging to the genus
Teretia
.