Revised descriptions of New Zealand Cenozoic Mollusca from Beu and Maxwell (1990)
| | Revised descriptions of New Zealand Cenozoic Mollusca from Beu and Maxwell (1990) |
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  (Pl. 37y): holotype, GS1568, W19/f8482, Waihua River, southern Wairoa district, northern Hawke's Bay, Waipipian (TM5761, GNS) |
Beu & Maxwell (1990): Chapter 14; p. 302; pl. 37 y.
Synonymy: Clavatoma pulchra Powell 1942, p. 107
Type species of Clavatoma Powell, 1942
Classification: Turridae: Crassispirinae?
Description: Moderate-sized for family (20-25 mm high), solid and heavily sculptured, spire 1.3 times height of aperture and canal. Whorl outlines with rounded shoulder, medial on spire whorls, and strongly concave sutural ramp (corresponding to anal sinus). Sculpture of very weak subsutural fold (scarcely recognisable on most specimens); broad peripheral band of axially elongate nodules forming lower half of spire whorls, with 10-11 nodules per whorl; followed below by 3 nodulous spiral cords on last whorl (bearing 15-16 nodules per whorl) and several fine basal spiral threads. Outer lip thin, with moderately deep U-shaped anal sinus occupying sutural ramp; parietal lip strongly thickened. Anterior canal short, widely open, with only shallow anterior notch and oblique end. Protoconch tall and narrowly conical, of 3.5 smooth whorls.
Comparison: Clavatoma pulchra is apparently one of few New Zealand members of the turrid subfamily Crassispirinae (the only other New Zealand genus assigned there at present is Inquisitor), a subfamily centred on tropical America. However, the classification of this and all similar taxa is in a state of flux at present. Clavatoma differs from such taxa as Crassispira (Moniliopsis) in its taller protoconch, its thin outer lip, and its weaker subsutural fold (and so the resemblance in sculpture could be fortuitous). The four wide bands of large, low nodules on the last whorl make it very distinctive among New Zealand Turridae.
Distribution: Opoitian-Mangapanian; Waihua River, northern Hawke's Bay, Waipipian (type); common and widespread in mid-shelf, soft-bottom facies with diverse Mollusca in the Wairoa district, northern Hawke's Bay (Opoitian-Mangapanian), and rare in shallow-water sandstone and shellbeds at Waihi Beach, Hawera and Waipipi, Waverley Beach, on the Wanganui-South Taranaki coast.
Cite this publication as: "A.G. Beu and J.I. Raine (2009). Revised
descriptions of New Zealand Cenozoic Mollusca from Beu and Maxwell (1990). GNS
Science miscellaneous series no. 27."
© GNS Science, 2009
ISBN
978-0-478-19705-1
ISSN 1177-2441
(Included with a PDF facsimile file
copy of New Zealand Geological Survey Paleontological Bulletin 58 in CD version
from: Publications Officer, GNS Science, P.O. Box 30368 Lower Hutt, New
Zealand)