The genus Henryhowella Puri, 1957 (Crustacea, Ostracoda) in the Atlantic and Mediterranean from Miocene to Recent

The systematics, the ecology and the paleoecology of the plicate forms of the genus Henryhowella Puri, 1957 from the Miocene to Recent of the Mediterranean basin and Atlantic are investigated. The research allowed the finding in both Atlantic and Mediterranean of H. parthenopea n. sp. which is described and illustrated, the systematic definition of H. sarsii sarsii (G.W. Mueller, 1894) and the related subspecies H. sarsii profunda n. ssp. both of which are described and illustrated. All the previous taxa are compared with the type species H. asperrima (Reuss, 1850) and each other. Another form found in Late Tortonian of Sicily is dubitatively attributed to H. asperrima and compared with topotypic specimens of the type-species. The ecological and paleoecological data allowed to define the bathymetrical range of the 3 forms found as follows: H. parthenopea n. sp. ranges from 40 to 170 m depth, H. sarsii sarsii from 11o about 400 m and H. sarsii profunda n. ssp. which pertains to the bathyal environment. The age distribution of all the forms identified and illustrated is given.