Taniella motutaraensis
| Taniella motutaraensis Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| Holotype from Auckland War Memorial Museum | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Subclass: | Caenogastropoda |
| Order: | Littorinimorpha |
| Family: | Naticidae |
| Genus: | †Taniella |
| Species: | †T. motutaraensis
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Taniella motutaraensis (A. W. B. Powell, 1935)
| |
| Synonyms[1][2][3] | |
| |
Taniella motutaraensis is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc, in the family Naticidae.[2] Fossils of the species date to early Miocene strata of the west coast of the Auckland Region, New Zealand.
Description
In the original description, Powell described the species as follows:
Shell small, solid, oval, smooth except for numerous axial growth lines. Whorls 42⁄4, including a protoconch not clearly marked off, but with a tiny nucleus, and probably about 21⁄2 whorls. Spire blunt, broadly rounded, about one-fifth the height of aperture (suture to basal lip). Suture tangential. Parietal callus peculiar, fairly heavy, widest below as it is coalescent with the funicle, completely filling the umbilicus. The medial part of the callus is surmounted by a prominent tubercle, and the outer edge is bounded by a shallow groove. Basal lip much thickened, especially at the point of contact with the umbilical callus.[4]
The holotype of the species measures 8.9 mm (0.35 in) in height and 7.5 mm (0.30 in) in diameter.[4] The species can be identified due to having a prominent tubercule on its parietal callus, as well as the umbilicus being completely filled.[4]
Taxonomy
The species was first described by A. W. B. Powell in 1935 as Polinices motutaraensis.[4] It was moved to the Taniella subgenus Pristinacca in 1966 by Charles Alexander Fleming.[1][5] Its currently accepted name is Taniella motutaraensis, without a subgenus.[2]
The holotype was collected at an unknown date prior to 1935 from the southern end of Maukatia Bay, south of Muriwai, Auckland Region (then more commonly known as Motutara), and is held in the collections of Auckland War Memorial Museum.[6][7]
Distribution
This extinct marine species occurs in early Miocene strata of the Nihotupu Formation of New Zealand, on the west coast of the Waitākere Ranges of the Auckland Region, New Zealand.[6] The Powell Bay site deposits of the Nihotupu Formation in the western Waitākere Ranges are mid-bathyal 800–2,000 m (2,600–6,600 ft).[8]
References
- ^ a b Fleming, Charles Alexander; Marwick, John (1966). Marwick's Illustrations of New Zealand Shells with a Checklist of New Zealand Cenozoic Mollusca. Wellington: R. E. Owen, Govt. Printer. p. 53. OCLC 955302.
- ^ a b c Taniella motutaraensis (A. W. B. Powell, 1935) †. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 20 January 2026.
- ^ Maxwell, P.A. (2009). "Cenozoic Mollusca". In Gordon, D.P. (ed.). New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity. Volume one. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Christchurch: Canterbury University Press. p. 243. ISBN 978-1-877257-72-8.
- ^ a b c d Powell, A. W. B. (1935). "Tertiary Mollusca from Motutara, West Coast, Auckland". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum. 1: 327–340. ISSN 0067-0464. JSTOR 42905961. Wikidata Q58676576. This article incorporates text from this source, which is under a CC BY 4.0 license.
- ^ Beu, A.G. (1970). "Bathyal Upper Miocene Mollusca from Wairarapa District, New Zealand". Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Earth Sciences. 7 (12): 209–240.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Polinices motutaraensis". Collections Online. Auckland War Memorial Museum. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
- ^ Eagle, Michael K. (December 1999). "A new Early Miocene Pseudarchaster (Asteroidea: Echinodermata) from New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 42 (4): 551–556. doi:10.1080/00288306.1999.9514861. ISSN 0028-8306. Wikidata Q104119200.