Zeatoma austrotomoides

Zeatoma austrotomoides is an extinct species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Pseudotomidae. Fossils of the species date to late Pliocene strata of the Tangahoe Formation in New Zealand.

Description

In the original description, Powell described the species as follows:
The holotype of the species has an estimated height of in height, and a diameter of. The species can be distinguished from Z. celsa due to being smaller, having a shorter spire, with more numerous axials that extend over the body-whorl. It can be distinguished from other members of Zeatoma due to its large shell size, having a spire taller than its aperture, the shell being straight-sided below the angle, and due to having 14 axials per whorl.

Taxonomy

The species was first described by A. W. B. Powell in 1931 as Marshallena austrotomoides. It was moved to the genus Zeatoma in 1992 by Phillip A. Maxwell. The holotype was collected in January 1931 from near the mouth of Waihi Stream near Hāwera, Taranaki, and is held in the collections of Auckland War Memorial Museum.

Distribution

This extinct marine species occurs in late Pliocene strata of the Tangahoe Formation, primarily associated with the Taranaki and Manawatū–Whanganui regions of New Zealand. Fossils of the species have been found near Hāwera, Taranaki, along the Awatere River of Marlborough District, and along the Makaretu River at Opoiti in the Wairoa District.