Mauidrillia clavicula

Mauidrillia clavicula Temporal range: early Miocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Holotype from Auckland War Memorial Museum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	Horaiclavidae
Genus:	Mauidrillia
Species:	†M. clavicula
Binomial name
†Mauidrillia clavicula A. W. B. Powell, 1942

Mauidrillia clavicula is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Horaiclavidae. ^[1] Fossils of the species date to the early Miocene strata of the Mount Harris Formation at Glen Creek, Oamaru, Otago, New Zealand.

Description

Reverse view of holotype

The species has a small shell with a spire 1.5 times the height of the combined length of the aperture and canal. The shell has 6.5 whorls, including a protoconch of 1.5 whorls. The middle of the shell has strongly angled whorls, and the shell has weak suture cord margining. The axials appear as strongly blunt knobs at angles, and do not extend to the sutures. There are between 9-12 axials per whorl, with ten found on the penultimate whorl. ^[2] The holotype of the species measures 8.25 mm (0.325 in) in height and 3.1 mm (0.12 in) in diameter. ^[2]

Taxonomy

The species was first described by A.W.B. Powell in 1942. ^[2] The holotype was collected from the Target Gully Shellbed at Glen Creek, Oamaru, Otago, New Zealand at an unknown date prior to 1943, and is held by the Auckland War Memorial Museum. ^{[3] [4]}

Distribution

This extinct marine species occurs in early Miocene strata of the Mount Harris Formation at Glen Creek, Oamaru, Otago, New Zealand. ^[3]

References

1. Mauidrillia clavicula A. W. B. Powell, 1942 † . 8 December 2025. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species .
2. Powell, A. W. B. (1942). "The New Zealand recent and fossil Mollusca of the family Turridae, with general notes on Turrid nomenclature and systematics". Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum . 2: 86. ISSN   0067-0456. OCLC   1826451. Wikidata   Q115110377.
3. Blom, Wilma M. (2025). "Annotated Catalogue of Fossil and Extant Molluscan Types in the Auckland War Memorial Museum". Bulletin of the Auckland Museum . 22. doi:10.32912/BULLETIN/22. ISSN   1176-3213. OCLC   1550165130. Wikidata   Q135397912.
4. "Mauidrillia clavicula". Collections Online. Auckland War Memorial Museum . Retrieved 8 December 2025.

Further reading

• P. A. Maxwell. 1988. Late Miocene Deep-Water Mollusca from the Stillwater Mudstone at Greymouth, Westland, New Zealand: Paleoecology and Systematics. New Zealand Geological Survey Paleontological Bulletin 55
• Maxwell, P.A. (2009). Cenozoic Mollusca. pp. 232–254 in Gordon, D.P. (ed.) New Zealand inventory of biodiversity. Volume one. Kingdom Animalia: Radiata, Lophotrochozoa, Deuterostomia. Canterbury University Press, Christchurch