Mauidrillia serrulata

Mauidrillia serrulata Temporal range: middle Miocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Holotype from Auckland War Memorial Museum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
Subclass:	Caenogastropoda
Order:	Neogastropoda
Family:	Horaiclavidae
Genus:	Mauidrillia
Species:	†M. serrulata
Binomial name
†Mauidrillia serrulata A. W. B. Powell, 1944

Mauidrillia serrulata is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Horaiclavidae. ^[1] Fossils of the species date to the middle Miocene strata of the Port Phillip Basin of Victoria, Australia.

Description

Reverse view of holotype

In the original description, Powell described the species as follows:

Species close to consutilis , but with a sharply projecting double carina which is delicately serrated by the crossing of numerous axial threads. Serrations about 25 per whorl. Subsutural fold bearing two spiral threads, three on shoulder, two heavier linear-spaced cords forming the carina, and 2 to 5 beneath it. On the body-whorl, from the carina to the anterior end, there are 19 narrow, flat-topped spiral cords, with interspaces double their width. ^[2]

The holotype of the species measures 9 mm (0.35 in) in height and 4 mm (0.16 in) in diameter, and a paratype seen by Powell measured 12 mm (0.47 in) in height and 4.6 mm (0.18 in) in diameter. ^[2]

Taxonomy

The species was first described by A.W.B. Powell in 1944. ^[2] The holotype was collected from Fossil Beach, Balcombe Bay in Victoria, Australia at an unknown date prior to 1945, and is held by the Auckland War Memorial Museum. ^{[3] [4]} In 1981, D. C. Long theorised that the late Eocene species M. aldingensis was ancestral to M. serrulata. ^[5]

Distribution

This extinct marine species occurs in middle Miocene strata of the Port Phillip Basin of Victoria, including the Gellibrand Formation. ^{[3] [6]}

References

1. Mauidrillia serrulata A. W. B. Powell, 1944 † . 8 December 2025. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species .
2. Powell, A. W. B. (1944). "The Australian Tertiary Mollusca of the Family Turridae". Records of the Auckland Institute and Museum . 3: 3–68. ISSN   0067-0464. JSTOR   42905993. Wikidata   Q58676624.
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 serrulata". Collections Online. Auckland War Memorial Museum . Retrieved 8 December 2025.
5. Long, D. C. (1981). "Late Eocene and Early Oligocene Turridae (Gastropoda: Prosobranchiata) of the Brown's Creek and Glen Aire Clays, Victoria, Australia" (PDF). Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria. 42 (1): 15–55. doi:10.24199/J.MMV.1981.42.03. ISSN   0083-5986. Wikidata   Q56195002.
6. Darragh, Thomas A. (August 2024). "A checklist of Australian marine Cenozoic Mollusca". Memoirs of Museum Victoria . 83: 37–206. doi:10.24199/J.MMV.2024.83.02. ISSN   1447-2546. Wikidata   Q136396722.