Conus
(Conospirus) brockenensis (Vella, 1954)
Description.
Shell small for the genus. Protoconch: 5
surviving whorls (the tip, probably about one whorl, broken off), conic, tall, making the spire outline very
concave. 5 ½ post-nuclear whorls, staged, with
well-developed peripheral keel bearing about 20 weak nodules a whorl, with 3
weak spiral threads crossing the nodules. Suture close below the keel; a weak subsutural fold;
shoulder otherwise nearly horizontal. Spire including
protoconch about 1/3 the height of the
aperture. Body whorl: conic, sides straight
posteriorly, concave anteriorly, so that the neck is somewhat attenuated; spaced, linear, spiral grooves cover
the body whorl from the neck where
they are strongest, nearly to the peripheral keel. Aperture long, narrow, with parallel sides.
Height, 18 mm.; diameter, about 7 mm.
(Holotype, with tip of canal missing).
Locality: N162/604, midde Te wharau Formation, south
branch of Whakatahine Stream,
upper Clifdenian or Lilburnian.
Unique holotype.
The
protoconch is distinctive but unfortunately the upper three whorls were damaged
after illustration. The sculpture is sufficiently diagnostic to
establish the species.
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Conospirus brockenensis Holotype
- Plate 26 fig. 14 mm.
18 x 7 |
Bibliografia Consultata