Cochlis zachosi, Harzhauser & Landau & Guzhov, 2025

Cochlis zachosi nov. sp.

Figs 2G View FIGURE 2 , 22A–D View FIGURE 22

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

Natica tigrina ( Defrance, 1825) View in CoL — Harzhauser 2002: 89, pl. 5, figs 10–11 [ non Cochlis tigrina ( Defrance, 1825) View in CoL ].

Type species. Holotype: NHMW 2024 View Materials /0239/0001, SL: 27.0 mm, MD: 27.8 mm, Grund ( Austria), Figs 2G View FIGURE 2 , 22A View FIGURE 22 1 – A View FIGURE 1 4 View FIGURE 4 . Paratypes: NHMW 2024 View Materials /0239/0002, SL: 25.6 mm, MD: 25.6 mm, Grund ( Austria), Figs 22B View FIGURE 22 1 –B View FIGURE 1 4 View FIGURE 4 . NHMW 2024 View Materials /0239/0003, SL: 27.7 mm, MD: 28.4 mm, Grund ( Austria), Figs 22C View FIGURE 22 1 –C View FIGURE 1 4 View FIGURE 4 . NHMW 2024 View Materials /0239/0004, SL: 25.0 mm, MD: 24.8 mm, Grund ( Austria), Figs 22D View FIGURE 22 1 –D View FIGURE 1 4 View FIGURE 4 .

Additional paratypes. 12 spec., NHMW 1851 View Materials /0002/0075, Grund ( Austria) .

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

Type stratum. Grund Formation.

Age. Middle Miocene, early Badenian (Langhian).

Etymology. In honor of Frank Emmanuel Zachos, zoologist at the NHMW.

Diagnosis. Medium sized, globose shell, gradate spire, wide and deep suture, strongly expanding last whorl with adapical tip of aperture far below shoulder; umbilicus wide, deep, funnel-shaped with prominent funicle terminating at lower third of columellar lip.

Description. Medium sized, globose shell of about four teleoconch whorls; as wide as high (SL/MD = ~1.0).

Spire gradate, moderately elevated, turbiniform of low, strongly convex whorls; apical angle 127–131°. Protoconch poorly preserved of>2 smooth, convex whorls. Suture linear, very deep and wide. Faint, low, relatively broad subsutural cord. Subsutural shelf very narrow, convex, delimited by faint shoulder angulation. Last teleoconch whorl strongly expanding, inflated, attaining ~95% of total height. Periphery strongly convex, placed just below mid-whorl (~46%). Growth lines close-set, prominent along subsutural cord, weakening on subsutural shelf, delicate and prosocline along periphery. Aperture moderately very wide, D-shaped, with maximum width below mid-whorl.

Position of adapical tip of aperture moderately low (~78%), far below shoulder. Aperture attaining ~75% of total height. Columellar lip straight, moderately reinforced, basal lip thick, slightly expanded, outer lip thin. Columellar angle 17–20°. Opercular ridge in outer lip indistinct. Umbilicus wide (~17%), deep, funnel-shaped, with prominent growth lines. Parietal callus short (~34%), strongly thickened, rectangular with straight margin and weak anterior lobe. Funicle prominent, cord-like, moderately broad, distinctly delimited by deeply concave adapical sulcus and shallower abapical sulcus. Funicle terminating in lower third of columellar lip in semicircular umbilical callus, grading abapically into thick basal lip, well separated from parietal callus. Basal fasciole very solid, weakly angled with prominent growth lines. Color pattern not preserved. Operculum unknown.

Discussion. Cochlis cuniculata nov. sp. is slightly reminiscent of Cochlis zachosi nov. sp. but differs in its very broad and weak funicle and the higher placed position of the insertion of the outer lip and narrower parietal callus. Cochlis degregorioi nov. sp. has comparable umbilical features but differs in its much larger size and narrow, adpressed suture. In addition, C. degregorioi has a longer and broader parietal callus. Similarly, Cochlis micromillepunctata nov. sp. has comparable umbilical features but has a narrow, adpressed suture and a distinctly less expanding last whorl. Cochlis micromillepunctata has the basal callus much more developed and its parietal callus is narrower but longer.

Paleoenvironment. 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 zachosi nov. sp. belonged to the allochthonous shallow water fauna and not to the autochthonous deep-water fauna.

Distribution in Central Paratethys. Karpatian (Early Miocene): Korneuburg Basin: Gebmannsberg, Kleinebersdorf, Karnabrunn, Stetten ( Austria) ( Harzhauser 2002); Badenian (Middle Miocene): North Alpine-Carpathian Foreland Basin: Grund ( Austria) ( hoc opus).