Work

Cosmophiline Berger 1949

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Genus Cosmophiline Berger 1949 Type species. Cosmophiline marinellii Berger, 1949; by monotypy. Middle Miocene, Austria. Diagnosis. “Shell very thin, small apex, involute, last whorl strongly expanding (as in Philine Ascanius). Surface with strong spiral cords, which diverge arcuately on the last whorl diverge towards the upper and lower margin and terminate in strong teeth.” (Berger 1953: 115; translated from German). Discussion. Oskars et al. (2015) showed the family Philinidae to be polyphyletic with four lineages warranting familial status (Philinidae, Philinorbidae, Laonidae, and an unnamed clade informally designated by the authors as Philinidae Clade 4). Since then, a new family has been added, namely Antarctophilinidae for Southern Ocean species (Moles et al. 2019). Although the separation between these families relies mostly on anatomical characters such as presence/absence of gizzard plates as well as the nature of these plates, shells are also fairly informative for family and generic assignments. The genus of Cosmophiline is characterized by a very distinct shell which to our best knowledge is not present among extant philinid snails. Based on the quadrangular and flattish shape of these shells we assign the genus to the family Philinidae.

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19166400

Authors: Harzhauser, Mathias, Landau, Bernard M., Malaquias, Manuel António E.

Institutions: Natural History Museum Vienna, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, University of Lisbon, Instituto Dom Luiz, University of Bergen

Topic: Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils

Subfield: Paleontology

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

OpenAlex ID: W7140035788

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