Philine quadrata Wood S. 1839

Philine quadrata (Wood S., 1839)

Fig. 19 g–j

Bulla quadrata Wood S., 1839 (p. 461, pl. 7, fig. 1).

Laona (Ossiania) quadrata (S. Wood, 1839) — Nordsieck 1972 (p. 22, pl. O III, fig. 12).

Philine quadrata (Wood, 1839) — Thompson & Brown 1976 (p. 34, figs. 13O–Q); Thomsen & Vorren 1986 (pl. 1, fig. I). Philine quadrata (S. Wood, 1839) — Biondi & Di Paco, 1981 (p. 274, pl. 2, fig. 15).

Philine quadrata (Wood S., 1839) — Campani 2004 (p. 7, middle fig.); Repetto et al. 2005 (p. 264, mid left fig.).

Diagnostic characters. Roundly quadrangular shell in apertural view; slightly sunken spire; very large trapezoidal aperture; broadly arched columellar lip; sharp outer lip margin; densely spaced thin spiral rows of shallow, oval pits, sometimes linked to one another in a chain-like pattern. Protoconch: heterostrophic, tightly coiled; slightly more than 2 whorls; diameter about 620 µm; surface smooth; transition to the teleoconch marked by a very narrow varix.

Remarks. The similar Philine monterosati Monterosato, 1874 is sometimes regarded as a junior synonym of Wood’s taxon (e.g. Cachia et al. 2001); however, it differs in having a more rounded outline and a finer sculpture, in which the pits are coalescent and form undulating shallow furrows.

Occurrence. Box-corer samples BC05 (1 specimen), BC66 (1), BC67 (1), BC71 (1), BC72 (4); core BC72 (3). Maximum height: 4 mm.

Distribution and habitat. Philine quadrata is distributed from Greenland, Iceland, Norway and the White Sea to the Mediterranean, the Azores and S. Helena, reaching New England on the western Atlantic coast. It is found in the 35–2150 m depth interval on sand and shell gravel (Thompson & Brown 1976; Biondi & Di Paco 1981; Buhl- Mortensen & Høisaeter 1993; Høisaeter 2009).

Fossil record. Pliocene of Sicily (Monterosato 1872).