Species / Goniocheila Menthafontis
Stromboidea
Original Description of Aporrhais (Goniocheila) menthafontis by MacNeil, 1984
- "Shell of medium size for the genus; spire medium high to high; whorls moderately rounded, sutures moderately impressed; body whorl partly concealing penultimate whorl; mature aperture with a moderately thick to very thick outer lip, anal sinus appressed on spire, peripheral sinus impressed or not impressed, curving moderately to sharply upwards to form a prominent point, siphonal canal short, weakly incised, columella short, pointed to blunt, curving towards aperture; parietal callus thick to weak, forming, when mature, a large bump at the basal margin; protoconch smooth and regular with rounded whorls, about two turns; first postnuclear whorls (on paratype) with fine regular raised spirals (about 9 or 10) and well incised interspaces about half as wide as the spirals; weak curved axial riblets appearing on about five postnuclear whorls, increasing in strength on successive whorls; spirals becoming less sharp on later whorls and crossing the axial riblets; body whorl developing rounded to spirally elongate nodes on a peripheral carina, two weaker unnoded spiral ridges on lower part of whorl; on apertural flare the five spiral lirations fan out and secondary lirations appear; spiral threads indistinct on columella."
Locus typicus: Mint Spring Bayou, beneath waterfall near National Cemetery, Vicksburg, Warren County, Mississippi, USA
Stratum typicum: Mint Spring Formation, lower Rupelian, Oligocene
References:
- K.G. Miller et al (2008) - Eocene–Oligocene global climate and sea-level changes: St. Stephens Quarry, Alabama. Geological Society of America Bulletin, January/February 2008.
