Gastrocopta sp. Viernheim

Gastrocopta sp. from the Viernheim borehole is an undescribed species of a very small fossil land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Vertiginidae, the whorl snails.

Gastrocopta sp. Viernheim
Temporal range:
Two views of one shell of Gastrocopta new species from the Viernheim research borehole, Scale bar is in mm
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Mollusca
Class:
Gastropoda
(unranked):
clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Panpulmonata
clade Eupulmonata
clade Stylommatophora

clade Orthurethra
Superfamily:
Pupilloidea
Family:
Vertiginidae
Subfamily:
Gastrocoptinae
Genus:
Gastrocopta
Subgenus:
Vertigopsis
Species:
"Gastrocopta sp. Viernheim" [undescribed]

Distribution

There is only one record of this species from 2008 from the Viernheim research borehole, Germany from the Lower Pleistocene (Lower Biharium).[1]

Description

The small conical shell is 1.9 mm high and 1.0 mm wide.[1] The five arched whorls increase uniformly in size up to the penultimate whorl – the last whorl becomes smaller towards the aperture.[1] The apertural border with the lip is well formed and slightly folded over towards the spindle.[1] The shell is shiny, slightly stripy and has a weakly developed palatine torus.[1] It has three strong teeth, one columellar, one palatal and one parietal, although the adjacent palatine wall of the specimen is damaged and partially missing.[1] The teeth are almost the same distance apart and their tips almost point towards one another.[1] A characteristic feature is the complete absence of a basal tooth.[1]

References

This article incorporates CC-BY-3.0 text from the reference[1]

  1. Wedel J. (2008). "Pleistocene molluscs from research boreholes in the Heidelberg Basin". E&G – Quaternary Science Journal 57(3-4): 382-402. doi:10.3285/eg.57.3-4.6.
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