Asperdaphne balcombensis
| Asperdaphne balcombensis Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Holotype from Auckland War Memorial Museum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Neogastropoda |
| Family: | Raphitomidae |
| Genus: | Asperdaphne |
| Species: | †A. balcombensis
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Asperdaphne balcombensis A. W. B. Powell, 1944
| |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Asperdaphne balcombensis is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc, in the family Raphitomidae.[1] Fossils of the species date to the middle Miocene strata of the Port Phillip Basin of Victoria, Australia.
Description
In the original description, Powell described the species as follows:
Fusiform, with convex whorls, excavated base and moderately long, flexed and recurved anterior canal. Sculptured with numerous sharply raised, rounded axials, crossed by crisp primary and secondary spiral cords. Protoconch of 21⁄2 rounded, finely striated whorls, tip small, in-rolled: last whorl with a few weak, irregular axials; terminated by a thin sinuous rim. Shoulder slight, at four-fifths whorl height, sculptured with 5-6 fine spiral lirations crossed by arcuate threads which follow the curve of the sinus. The axials run from the shoulder angle over the base to the anterior end, 20 per whorl. On the penultimate these are crossed by 6 crisp, narrow primary cords with a thread in each interspace. On the body-whorl there are about 16 primary cords. The anterior end bears 6 strong cords, but no axials. Outer lip thin, sinus sutural, typical, reversed "L"-shaped, but not deep.[2]
The holotype of the species has a height of 11 mm (0.43 in), and a diameter of 4.25 mm (0.167 in).[2]
Taxonomy
The species was first described by A. W. B. Powell in 1944.[2][3] In 2011, A. G. Beu recombined the species as Pleurotomella balcombensis,[4] a change not accepted by Thomas A. Darragh (2024) or the World Register of Marine Species.[1][5] The holotype was collected prior to 1944 from Fossil Beach, Balcombe Bay, Victoria, Australia. It is held by the Auckland War Memorial Museum.[6][7]
Distribution
This extinct marine species occurs in middle Miocene strata of the Port Phillip Basin of Victoria, Australia, including the Gellibrand Formation.[6][5]
References
- ^ a b c Asperdaphne balcombensis A. W. B. Powell, 1944 †. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 2 March 2026.
- ^ a b c Powell, A. W. B. (1944). "The Australian Tertiary Mollusca of the Family Turridae". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum. 3: 3–68. ISSN 0067-0464. JSTOR 42905993. Wikidata Q58676624. This article incorporates text from this source, which is under a CC BY 4.0 license.
- ^ Darragh, T.A. (1970). "Catalogue of Australian Tertiary Mollusca (except Chitons)". Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria. 31: 157.
- ^ Beu, A. G. (March 2011). "Marine Mollusca of isotope stages of the last 2 million years in New Zealand. Part 4. Gastropoda (Ptenoglossa, Neogastropoda, Heterobranchia)". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 41 (1): 1–153. doi:10.1080/03036758.2011.548763. ISSN 0303-6758. Wikidata Q54553193.
- ^ a b Darragh, Thomas A. (August 2024). "A checklist of Australian marine Cenozoic Mollusca". Memoirs of Museum Victoria. 83: 37–206. doi:10.24199/J.MMV.2024.83.02. ISSN 1447-2546. Wikidata Q136396722.
- ^ a b Blom, Wilma M. (2025). "Annotated Catalogue of Fossil and Extant Molluscan Types in the Auckland War Memorial Museum". Bulletin of the Auckland Museum. 22. doi:10.32912/BULLETIN/22. ISSN 1176-3213. OCLC 1550165130. Wikidata Q135397912.
- ^ "Pleurotomella balcombensis". Collections Online. Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2 March 2026.