Spondylus rotundatus Heilprin, 1887
HEILPRIN, A. 1887. Explorations of the West Coast of Florida and in the Okeechobee Wilderness. Transactions of the Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia, 1: 1-133, pls. 1-19 [Reprinted in Palaeontographica Americana, 1964, v. 4, no. 33, p. 371-506, pls. 54-74]. [p. 99, pl. 14, fig. 33]
1887 Spondylus rotundatus Heilprin, 1887
A. Heilprin, 1887, plate 14.
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«Shell (known only by the larger valve) capacious, orbicular below the hinge-line, distinctly auriculated; hinge-line triangular, pyramidal, the beak acute, laterally twisted at the apex, traversed by a median slit; cartilage-pit profound, reaching about half-way to the apex; cardinal teeth powerful, slightly spreading; external surface coarsely ornamented with irregular squamous ribs and intermediate scaly fine lines, the (imbricated) scales on the latter drawn out into flattened spines or echinations.
Height to apex, 3.5 inches; greatest width, 2.5 inches. A solitary, perfectly preserved valve from the banks below Fort Thompson. This species is quite distinct from any form, either recent or fossil, with which I am acquainted.» ANGELO HEILPRIN, 1887
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«As noted by Dall, this species was illustrated in Heilprin's original paper by a poor photographic figure taken from an imperfect lower valve tilted to show the anterior side and a part of the interior. Without other specimens from the same locality, the species based on this figure alone would be unrecognizable. Dall's figure is that of an upper valve with large, spatulate spines some of vvhich are decurved at the ends like a half-shut hand, or they may be flat with frilled edges resembling a blade of seaweed. These spines are generally broken off leaving only their stumps.
Like other species of Spondylus, this species is variable in form because of its attached habit, the age of the specimen, the degree of wear and erosion, as weIl as the extent of attack by burrowing organisms. There are two general forms: a long, narrow, thick-shelled type with a high, wide, curved cardinal area and generally with a finer sculpture, and a second type with a rounder, thinner shell, lower, narrower cardinal area and a heavier sculpture of strong spines. This last type resembles the Spondylus princeps Broderip (leucacantha Broderip) from the coast of Ecuador, differing only by the more strongly decurved character of its primary spines and by the coarser, more spiny, needle-like sculpture of the secondaries. The strength of the spiniferous sculpture is determined largely by the size of the area of attachment, hence the umbones are always more weakly sculptured than the more distal parts of the valve surface. Details of the sculpture are shown by the enlarged figure. St. Petersburg, ANSP 18291, 19181; La Belle, ANSP 19180 figured.» OLSSON, A. A. & A. HARBISON. 1953. Pliocene Mollusca of Southern Florida: With special reference to those from North Saint Petersburg. Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company Inc. (1979), p. 1-361, pls. 1-15, 24-48, 57-63. Huntington, N.Y. (Reprint of the Monographs of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, no 8, 1953). [p. 57, 58]
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Spondylus rotundatus Heilprin; A. A. Olsson & A. Harbison, 1953, Pliocene Mollusca of Southern Florida: With special reference to those from North Saint Petersburg, plate 6, figures 1, 1a-1e.
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