| Measurements | D mm | H/D | T/D | O/D | H/T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holotype | 69 | 0.45 | 0.35 | 0.26 | 1.29 |
| CP-485 | 71.4 | 0.48 | 0.38 | 0.24 | 1.26 |
| Age | Origin |
|---|---|
|
Grey clay Upper dentatus zone Middle Albian |
Meuse France |
| Var. | vectensis | persulcatus | dentatiformis | rudis | maritimus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H/T | 1.54 | 1.28-1.29 | 0.97-1.03 | 0.78-0.91 | 0.69-0.81 |
| T/D | 0.28 | 0.35-0.36 | 0.39-0.40 | 0.44-0.54 | 0.52-0.59 |
Description. This pyritic internal mold is compressed and completely septate. The whorls, with their high trapezoidal section, overlap by 60%. The high umbilical wall, sloping at 45°, bears 16 very prominent, elongated bullae on its rounded edge. Each bulla gives two proverse ribs that gradually rise and terminate on the ventrolateral shoulder in a high clavus. The clavi are alternate on either side of the siphon and form a 60° angle with it. They delimit a deep ventral groove. A shorter intercalary is generally observed between two consecutive pairs of ribs. The ribbing is irregular: some ribs are simply arched, others are folded in the upper third of the flanks and project further forward, and a few are lautiform. There are 34 ribs in total.
Remarks. Personal discovery. This species is found at the top of dentatus zone and at the base of intermedius zone. Up to about 2 cm in diameter, it is indistinguishable from Hoplites dentatus (see its entry). With growth, it differs by irregularly folded ribs and higher ventrolateral clavi, delimiting a particularly deep siphonal sulcus. Amédro (1992) and Amédro et al. (2014) consider it one of the compressed variants of H. rudis: see the table of variants above, established from the dimensions of Spath's specimens (1925). Hoplites persulcatus can be confused with H. latesulcatus (see its entry), which also has a deep groove and coexists in the same level. However, the latter generally has a wider groove and its ribs are regularly arched, like H. dentatus of which it is a late variant. The few pairs of lautiform ribs in our specimen indicate the beginning of a transition towards Hoplites canavarii.