Craspedochiton schafferi ( Šulc, 1934 )

Craspedochiton schafferi ( Šulc, 1934)

Fig. 149 View FIGURE 149

Cryptoconchus ( Notoplax) schafferi Šulc, 1934, p. 15 , pl. 1, figs 22–24; Sieber 1959, p. 275; Dell’Angelo et al. 1999, p. 284.

Notoplax schafferi ; Van Belle 1981, p. 64; Kroh 2003, p. 135, pl. 2, fig. 4.

Craspedochiton schafferi ; Bałuk 1984, p. 293; Studencka & Studencki 1988, p. 43; Dell’Angelo et al. 2013, p. 98; Dell’Angelo et al. 2016, p. 94, 98; Dell’Angelo et al. 2018b, p. 54, tab. 17; Dell’Angelo et al. 2020b, p. 44, tab. 9; Dulai 2025b, p. 31, figs 23–25.

non Craspedochiton schafferi ; Bałuk 1971, p. 465, pl. 4, figs 13–14 (= C. profascicularis , fide Bałuk 1984).

Chiton fascicularis [non Acanthochitona fascicularis ( Linnaeus, 1767) View in CoL ]; Vetters 1910, p. 157 ( fide Kroh 2003).

Type material. Holotype NHMW 1863/00015/0861, tail valve, width 2.8 mm ( Figs 149A–D View FIGURE 149 ).

Type locality. Niederleis ( Austria) .

Type stage. Middle Miocene.

Material examined. Middle Miocene: Austria: type material.

Description. Head valve unknown. Intermediate valves broadly rectangular, anterior margin almost straight, posterior margin with a prominent apex, jugal area large. Tail valve oval, anterior margin almost straight in jugum, mucro slightly posterior, poorly developed, antemucronal slope almost atraight, postmucronal slope weakly concave just under mucro.

Tegmentum covered with elevated, roundish/oval irregularly arranged granules, coalescing towards anterior margin, except on JA, smooth; granules with many megalaesthetes and micraesthetes (up to 20–25 or more) arranged without any apparent order.

Articulamentum with apophyses trapezoidal, not expanded, widely separated by a large sinus, teeth broad, roughed dorsally, slit formula - / 1 / 7.

Remarks. Craspedochiton schafferi ( Šulc, 1934) was described upon a tail valve from Niederleis ( Austria), and three intermediate valves from Knínice ( Czech Republic. The tail valve ( holotype) is deposited at the NHMW. The material from the Lower Badenian of Korytnica attributed to this species ( Bałuk 1971) was later revised and attributed to Craspedochiton profascicularis (Boettger, 1907) by Bałuk (1984).

Šulc (1934) reports a width of 4 mm, probably also considering both complete apophyses. Currently, part of the valve is missing (compare Kroh 2003: fig. 4 and Fig. 149A View FIGURE 149 ), and the actual width is 2.8 mm.

The three intermediate valves from Knínice are not present at NHMW; Šulc (1934) does not provide an exaustive description but provides only some indications These segments are relatively long, the articulamentum covers most of the shell and the ornamentation, similar to the tail valve, consists of irregular protuberances. On each side of an incision occurs), and an illustration ( Šulc 1934: pl. 1, fig. 22), insufficient to define features.

Another tail valve was recently described by Dulai (2024b) from Letkés ( Hungary), making it the first known record of C. schafferi since the original description by Šulc (1934).

Šulc attributed this species to the genus Cryptoconchus Burrow, 1815 , a genus characterized by the tegmentum reduced to a small jugal area on each valve ( Van Belle 1983: 140), and not consistent with the characters of our valve. The attribution to the genus Notoplax H. Adams, 1862 , is not consistent, following Gowlett-Holmes (1991) who discussed the status of the relations between the genera Notoplax and Craspedochiton Shuttleworth, 1853 , and redefined the genus Notoplax , and so we attribute the Šulc’s species to the genus Craspedochiton .

Comparisons. Craspedochiton schafferi shows some similarity with C. brunettii Dell’Angelo, Giuntelli, Sosso & Zunino, 2016, but it differs from the shape of the tegmentum of the tail valve (without the characteristic bell shape at the top), and the more regular shape of the granules, ellipsoidal, size fairly constant and less dense.

Distribution. Middle Miocene: Central Paratethys (Langhian-Serravallian): Austria: Niederleis; Czech Republic: Knínice ( Šulc 1934; Kroh 2003); Hungary: Letkés ( Dulai 2025b).