On the occurrence of Spinucella reimersi (von Koenen 1872) (Gastropoda: Muricidae) in the Late Miocene Gram Clay of Denmark, and an emended description of the species

Abstract

Spinucella reimersi in the Late Miocene Gram Clay, Denmark The mica-rich clay at Gram in southern Denmark (Fig. 1) has been known since 1848, and digging of a pit for brick-making started after 1857 (L.B. Rasmussen 1968, p. 10). The collecting of molluscs started soon thereafter, and Semper (1861) studied material from Gram. Further studies in the second half of the 19th century, including material from Gram, were made by von Koenen (1872, 1882) and Mörch (1874). A description of the geological setting of the Gram Clay is found in E.S. Rasmussen (2005). For further references to the fauna, see Schnetler (2005). The physician Martin Reimers started as a general practitioner in Gram in 1841 and was a keen and skillful collector of fossils in the clay pit; without doubt this caught the interest of the professional palaeontologists. Carinastarte vetula reimersi (Ravn 1907), the most common mollusc species in the Gram Clay, was named in honour of Martin Reimers by Semper in an unpublished manuscript. The present study describes Martin Reimers’ connection to a very rare and almost neglected gastropod species, Spinucella reimersi, which since the first finding in 1862 has only been encountered twice. Furthermore, two new specimens have allowed an emended description of the species.