Created 2023/08/21
Updated 2023/09/14

Salaziceras salazacense  (Hébert & Munier-Chalmas, 1875)

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Salaziceras salazacense  CP-275
Measurements D mm H/D T/D O/D H/T
Holotype 24 0.38 0.46 0.29 0.82
CP-275 25.7 0.46 0.60 0.21 0.78

Age Origin
Base of Pénzeskút marls
Condensed Upper Albian
rostratum to perinflatum zones
Tilos forest
Village of Pénzesgyõr
Bakony Hills, Hungary

Description. A small, very thick ammonite with its test, showing no visible sutures. The whorls, with a depressed reniform section and a very broad venter without shoulders, overlap by 90% but show a tendency to uncoil on the last half-whorl. The maximum thickness is reached at the umbilical edge. The umbilicus is small, deep, and funnel-shaped, with a wall that quickly transitions to the flank via a narrowly rounded edge. This edge bears 11 small umbilical bullae, each giving rise to 1 (or 2 for the last 3 bullae) prominent, straight or slightly concave, somewhat rursiradiate ribs. Triangular in cross-section, they reach their maximum height on venter, which they traverse in a straight line, with a steeper anterior slope than posterior one. The intercostal spaces become wider than the ribs on the last half-whorl. Including 3 shorter, untuberculate intercalary ribs, there are 17 ribs in total on venter.

Remarques. Our specimen conforms to the description of Jattiot et al. (2021, p. 29). These authors add that a rib originating from an umbilical bulla can end up as an intercalary rib on the other flank, and that the ribs weaken or disappear at maturity. Intraspecific variability is important: their measurements on 13 specimens from Salazac (Gard) yield H/D = 0.38–0.49, T/D = 0.40–0.75, O/D = 0.16–0.29, H/T = 0.65–0.97. Rib density is also variable. Numerous specimens are illustrated in Wright & Kennedy (1979), Szives (2007, pl. 14, 16, 20), and Jattiot et al. (2021, fig. 12). In general, their ribs are more rounded, but some specimens show sharper ribs, like ours: see for example Szives, 2007, pl. 16, fig. 7 and 10.