Clio - Supplemento ad Argonauta n. 1-6 anno 2012

1971

Aporrhais pseudoserresianus procerus Settepassi, 1971: XXI, pl. 15 fig. 35, 36

1972

Description of Aporrhais elegantissimus by De Geronimo in Mari, 1972, p. 6:
· Conical, turrited, not very thick shell, constituted by 8 convex whorls with depressed sutur. The whorls by a series of small tubercules; the last whorl presents are covered by many, thin and visible decurrent striae and two series of tubercules and under these, a decurrent thread which is taller than the other ones. Long opening; thin, not too wide outer lip, with three long and thin digitations which are deeply canaliculated; the inside lip has a very wide columellar callosity. Crooked columella. Syphonal-channel (tail) open, slightly curved, narrow and long. Outer-surface grey tending to brown; the digitations and the peristoma are milk-white. Operculum and soft parts unknown. The holotype's height is 31 mm., but it must be more if one considers that the embrional whorls are missing and that the tail is broken."

Mari, 1972, p. 7
· reported Aporrhais elegantissimus from Naudibou, Mauritania
· mentioned that Parenzan proposes that the holotype of Aporrhais elegantissimus might be thrown from fishing boats returning from west African coasts into the italian sea.
· claimed (together with A. Malatesta) that Aporrhais elegantissimus is a surviving descendant of the pliocene mediterranian Aporrhais uttingerianus (Risso, 1826)

1974

Malatesta, 1974, p. 217/218: Aporrhais uttingeriana elegantissima:
· "Parenzan (l.c.) ha descritto un esemplare spaggiato presso Taranto e su di esso ha fondato una nuova specie: A. elegantissimus; successivamente (in 'La Conchiglia', 1972, n° 9-10, 6-7 e figure nel testo) in base ad altri esemplari proveniente dalle coste della Mauritania, è stata accerta la stretta affinità che lega questa forma vivente alla specie fossile del Risso, ritenuta estinta. Morfologicamente essa si distingue, tuttavia, dal tipo pliocenico per la minor estensione della callosità sulla parete interna dell'apertura, per la posizione della digitazione posteriore distaccata dalla spira ed inclinata in senso opposto all'asse della conchiglia e per la direzione della digitazione terminale parallela all'asse della conchiglia, quasi continuazione de essa, e non inclinata. Pertanto essa è stata giustamente valutata come sottospecie della specie fossile: Aporrhais uttingeriana elegantissima Parenzan. E' interessante osservare che tra le forme fossili di A. uttingeriana quella che più si avvicina alla forma vivente è un esemplare calabriano figurato da Cerulli (l.c., fig. 27). G. Barsotti ha esaminato radula ed opercolo della A. elegantissima ed ha constato che essi differiscono sia da quelli di A. serresiana (Michaud) che da quelli di A. pespelecani, dimostrando l'indipendenza tassonomica delle tre specie. Verrebbe così a cadere l'ipotesi formulata da Sacco della trasformazione di A. uttingeriana 'pliocenica' in A. serresiana 'quaternaria e attuale'. Quest'ultima, tuttavia, potrebbe essersi distaccata dal ceppo della A. uttingeriana già durante il Pliocene ed aver realizzato un adattamento ai fondi fangosi della zona batiale, con conseguente differenziazione a rango specifico, mentre in zona litorale sopravvivevano popolazioni indifferenziate della forma antenata ed adattata alle condizioni termiche del Neogene, della quale gli ultimi superstiti avrebbero trovato rifugio, con diverse altre specie di tradizione cenozoica, sulle coste dell'Africa occidentale.

1976

Mienis, 1976
· emended A. elegantissimus to A. elegantissima (p.89)
· placed A. pesgallinae as subspecies of A. uttingeriana: Aporrhais uttingeriana pesgallinae (p. 90).
· cites the following additional localities (p. 92):
o Congo, Pointe Noire, leg. J. Moret, 1969 (ZMA, 1 ex.)
o Congo, Pointe Noire, depth 200-250 m, leg. Vessel André Nizary, ORSTOM, 5.XII.1972 (ZMA, 1 ex.)
o Angola, depth 180 m, muddy sand, 1967 (RNHL 2127, 1 ex.)

1984

Karnekamp, 1984, p. 53 placed Aporrhais elegantissima Parenzan into the synonymy of Aporrhais serreseanus [sic]:
· "A. ser. elegantissimus Parenzan = slanke vorm van de soort"

1991

Kronenberg, 1991, p. 78 gives
· depth, where Aporrhais uttingeriana pesgallinae lives: from 100 to at least 350 m.
· measurements: up to 40 mm (if the first digit is included up to 50 mm)
· localities:
o "Western Africa; Mauretania / Senegal and Angola / Namibia."; "no live record from the Mediterranean is known."
o Luanda, Angola, trawled, depth 50m. (p. 78)
o Angola, offshore, muddy sand, depth 180m (p. 82)

1996

Giresse et al. report Aporrhais gallinae [error pro Aporrhais pesgallinae] from Cameroon.
· p. 34: "Aporrhais gallinae vase du large"

2000

Solsona et al., 2000:
· p. 86: "Following Mienis (1976) and Kronenberg (1991), we considered that the present species A. pesgallinae Barnard, 1963 and A. elegantissima Parenzan, 1970, both from western Africa, are synonyms of A. uttingeriana."
· p. 90: "At Present, A. uttingeriana is to be found in the coasts of Mauritania and Senegal and along the coasts of Namibia and Angola, but it seems it is not found between these areas (Fig. 3). If the absence of A. uttingeriana between Senegal and Namibia is certain, and not due solely to a lack of data, this would mean that this species has a disjunctive distribution."

2001

Harzhauser, 2001, p. 59:
· "Stromboidea have proved to be excellent marker fossils for palaeoclimatic changes in Neogene. A well-known example is Strombus (Lentigo) latus GMEL. which evolved from the Miocene to Pliocene Strombus (Lentigo) bonelli/coronatus group, ubiquitous at that time throughout the entire Mediterranean. During the Pleistocene climatic deterioration, Strombus latus became extinct in the Mediterranean but found a refuge along the western coast of Africa. However, in the course of the Pleistocene climatic optima, Strombus latus managed to re-enter the Mediterranean Sea in short waves (CORNU & al. 1993, RÖGL & al. 1996/97). Similarly, Aporrhais uttingerianus (RISSO) experienced a drastic reduction of its distribution-area from the Middle Miocene to the Recent. The species was well established in the Mediterranean Sea during the Neogene but shifted its northern boundary to lower latitudes in the Quaternary and is restricted to the western coast of Africa today (SOLSONA & MARTINELL 2000)."

2002

Marquet, Grigis & Landau, 2002 lump the Mediterranean Tortonian forms and the Paratethyan Badenian forms together with the recent morph [Aporrhais pesgallinae] and use the name Aporrhais (Aporrhais) uttingeriana.
· p.158: "Large species, with four to five well developed, long and pointed digitations, except for the adapical one, which is small and fused with the spire. It charcteristically forms an angle of more than 100° with the second digit."

2008

Manganelli et al. 2008, p. 509:
· "A. pesgallinae differs from A. uttingeriana by virtue of its more delicate structure, an adapical digitation diverging proximally from the spire ( in A. uttingeriana the adapical digitation only rarely diverges from the spire and when it does, it diverges distally) and a shorter, thinner abapical digitation usually less divergent from the axis".

Note:
Synonyms courtesy www.stromboidea.de – by U. Wieneke, H. Stoutjesdijk & P. Simonet