The family Architectonicidae J. E. Gray, 1850 (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) from the lower Serravallian of Rohožník (Vienna Basin, Central Paratethys): new evidence and description of a new species

This work presents new records of the Architectonicidae from the middle Miocene of the Central Paratethys Sea. The shells were obtained from the lower Serravallian (upper Badenian) marine sediments revealed at the fossiliferous site Rohožník – Konopiská, situated in the eastern Vienna Basin (Slovakia). The herein surveyed architectonicids comprise two species, of which Nipteraxis transmontanus spec. nov. is established as new, and Spirolaxis cornicula (O. Boettger, 1902) is recorded for the first time from Slovakia, representing the first occurrence of the species in the upper Badenian of the Central Paratethys realm. Paleoecology of both taxa is shortly commented on and compared with the habitat preferences of similar species. In the benthic assemblages at Konopiská, the architectonicids were associated with ahermatypic scleractinian corals, which most probably represented their potential hosts.