Fig. 2a–b
Nucula sulcata Bronn, 1831 (p. 109, n. 633).
Nucula sulcata Bronn—Jeffreys 1879 (p. 583); Hidalgo 1917 (p. 501); Tebble 1966 (p. 25, pl. 1, fig. c; text-fig. 14d); Di Geronimo & Panetta 1973 (p. 93).
Nucula (Nucula) sulcata Bronn, 1831 — Robba 1968 (p. 480, pl. 37, fig. 1).
Nucula sulcata (Bronn, 1831) — Nordsieck 1969 (p. 4, pl. 1, fig. 00.12).
Nucula sulcata Bronn, 1831 — Barash & Danin 1992 (p. 230, fig. 236); Cossignani et al. 1992 (fig. 255); Poppe & Goto 1993 (p. 37, pl. 1, fig. 17); Salas 1996 (p. 35, figs. 1–3); Giannuzzi-Savelli et al. 2001 (p. 46, figs. 18–24); Repetto et al. 2005 (p. 282, top left fig.); La Perna 2007 (p. 114, pl. 5, figs. 6–7; pl. 6, figs. 1–9); Oliver et al. 2016 (online resource).
Diagnostic characters. Ovate triangular shell; crenulated inner ventral margin; wavy commarginal cordlets crossed by weak radial striae. Prodissoconch: not available.
Remarks. A single, heavily worn specimen is at hand, apparently reworked from Pleistocene deposits. The species is based on an Eocene fossil (Malatesta 1974); conspecificity of the living N. sulcata with the fossil type is currently under debate. According to La Perna (2007), N. sulcata may be a complex of species rather than a single taxon.
Occurrence. Box-corer sample BC06 (1 specimen). Length: 9 mm.
Distribution and habitat. Nucula sulcata is widely distributed in the Atlantic Ocean, from Norway to West Africa (Senegal, Guinea and Angola), and in the Mediterranean Sea. It is regarded as an infralittoral to bathyal species, dwelling in mud, clay or very muddy sand and gravel (Tebble 1966; Poppe & Goto 1993; La Perna 2003; Ceregato et al. 2007; Oliver et al. 2016). It has been found living in the bathyal of Taranto, characterizing the Abra- Nucula biocoenosis (Di Geronimo & Panetta 1973).
Fossil record. Middle to Upper Miocene of Portugal, Italy, Austria and Poland; Pliocene and Pleistocene of Italy; Pleistocene of Denmark; Holocene of Denmark and the North Sea (Monterosato 1872; Seguenza 1877; Robba 1968; Malatesta 1974; Di Geronimo & Bellagamba 1985; Di Geronimo & La Perna 1997; Monegatti & Raffi 2001; La Perna 2003, 2007; Petersen 2004; Di Geronimo et al. 2005).