Cochlis degregorioi, Harzhauser & Landau & Guzhov, 2025

Cochlis degregorioi nov. sp.

Figs 2B View FIGURE 2 , 5A–D View FIGURE 5

Natica millepunctata Lam.—Hörnes 1856: 518 View in CoL ( pars), pl. 47, fig. 1 [ non Natica millepunctata Lamarck, 1822 View in CoL = Naticarius stercusmuscarum ( Gmelin, 1791) View in CoL ].

Type material. Holotype, NHMW 1855 View Materials /0045/0785a, SL: 46.1 mm, MD: 47.1 mm, Grund ( Austria), illustrated in Hörnes (1856: pl. 47, fig. 1), Figs 5B View FIGURE 5 1 –B View FIGURE 1 4 View FIGURE 4 . Paratypes: NHMW 1855 View Materials /0045/0785b, SL: 41.3 mm, MD: 41.9 mm, Grund ( Austria), Figs 2B View FIGURE 2 , 5A View FIGURE 5 1 –A View FIGURE 1 4 View FIGURE 4 . NHMW 1855 View Materials /0045/0785c (A860), SL: 38.7 mm, MD: 42.3 mm, Grund ( Austria), Figs 5 1 –C View FIGURE 5 4 View FIGURE 4 . NHMW 1855 View Materials /0045/0785d (A860), SL: 39.4 mm, MD: 42.8 mm, Grund ( Austria), Figs 5D View FIGURE 5 1 –D View FIGURE 1 4 View FIGURE 4 . Additional paratypes: 3 spec. , NHMW 1857 View Materials /0028/0039, Grund ( Austria).

Type locality. Grund ( Austria), North Alpine Foreland Basin .

Type stratum. Grund Formation.

Age. Middle Miocene, early Badenian (Langhian).

Etymology. In honor of the Italian paleontologist Antonio De Gregorio (1855–1930).

Diagnosis. Large, robust, globose shell with low conical spire, narrow subsutural shelf, moderately expanding last whorl, wide and deep umbilicus with broad, low, poorly delimited funicle; umbilical callus fused with anterior lobe of thickened parietal callus.

Description. Large, robust, globose shell of ~3.5 teleoconch whorls (SL/MD = ~1.0). Protoconch poorly preserved, of>1.5 convex whorls. Spire low conical; apical angle 120–130°. Suture linear, adpressed. Teleoconch whorls with narrow, weakly convex subsutural shelf, becoming weakly concave close to aperture. Shoulder angulation faint or subobsolete. Last whorl moderately expanding, attaining ~93–95% of total height. Periphery just below mid-whorl (~48%). Growth lines distinct and weakly prosocyrt in apical view, weak at periphery. Aperture wide, D-shaped, prosocline. Position of adapical tip of aperture moderately high (~82%), distinctly above mid-whorl. Aperture attaining ~76–78% of total height. Columellar lip moderately broad, strongly reinforced; basal lip slightly expanded, outer lip thin. Columellar angle ~25–28°. Opercular ridge in outer lip subobsolete. Umbilicus wide (~18%), deep with prominent growth lines. Parietal callus long (~59%), adapically strongly thickened, with concave margin, not expanding over base. Anterior lobe of parietal callus moderately thick, narrowly semicircular. Funicle prominent, very broad, depressed, not sharply delimited. Adapical sulcus deeply concave; abapical sulcus weakly concave. Umbilical callus semicircular, fused with anterior lobe of parietal callus, both separated by shallow concavity. Basal fasciole weak, rounded or faintly angled. No color pattern preserved. Operculum unknown.

Discussion. This species was lumped by Hörnes (1856) and in the collection of the NHMW with specimens of a species later described by Pedriali et al. (2019) as Cochlis ukrainensis Pedriali, Sosso & Dell’Angelo, 2019 . Both species are very similar in general shape but differ in the much larger size of Cochlis degregorioi nov. sp. and in its broader, lower and less delimited funicle. Moreover, the parietal and umbilical calluses are fused in C. degregorioi but separate in C. ukrainensis . Cochlis sallomacensis (Tournouër, 1873) , from the Langhian and Serravallian of France, differs in its more expanding last whorl, even wider umbilicus and the comparatively narrower funicle (see Robba et al. 2016: pl. 3, figs 7, 9–10). The specimen illustrated by Hörnes (1856: pl. 47, fig. 1) was discussed by De Gregorio (1885: 88) as being very close to his Natica altavillensis De Gregorio, 1885 from the Pliocene of Italy. The Italian species was not illustrated by De Gregorio (1885) and was not mentioned by Pedriali & Robba (2005, 2008a). Therefore, its relation to C. degregorioi remains enigmatic.

Cochlis degregorioi was confused by Hörnes (1856) with the extant Mediterranean Natica millepunctata Lamarck, 1822 [= Naticarius stercusmuscarum ( Gmelin, 1791) ], which differs in its narrow, raised funicle, which is situated in a more abapical position and in its prominent basal fasciole.

Paleoecology. At the locality Grund fossiliferous channel fills, which formed in middle to outer neritic environments bear allochthonous assemblages uniting coastal-mudflat faunas with inner neritic ones ( Zuschin et al. 2005; Roetzel 2009). Preservation and color of the fossil shells suggest that Cochlis degregorioi nov. sp. belonged to the allochthonous shallow-water fauna and not to the autochthonous deep-water fauna.

Distribution in Central Paratethys. Badenian (Middle Miocene): North Alpine-Carpathian Foreland Basin: Grund ( Austria) ( hoc opus).