Notadusta clifdenensis
Notadusta clifdenensis is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc, in the family Cypraeidae. Dating to the Miocene, it is the most widespread Cypraeidae fossil in New Zealand.
Description
In the original description, Cernohorsky described the species as follows:The holotype of the species measures in length, in width, in height. The spire is covered by a callus and is barely recognisable on most fossils, except due to a shallow groove at the base.
It can be differentiated from N. trelissickensis due to being larger, more solid and not pyriform, and from N. victoriana due to being larger and having a steeper, smooth fossula.
Taxonomy
The species was first described by Walter Oliver Cernohorsky in 1971, who used the name Notoluponia clifdenensis. Cernohorsky retained Harold Finlay's proposed name clifdenensis, which was unpublished but used to identify specimens in his collection. In 2009, A.G. Beu and J.I. Raine recombined the species to Cypraea clifdenensis. In the same year, the species was listed as Notadusta clifdenensis in the New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity, which has remained the species' accepted name.The holotype was sourced from the collections of Harold Finlay, and was collected from Long Beach Shellbed, Clifden, Southland at an unknown date prior to 1970. The holotype is held by the Auckland [War Memorial Museum].