![Thumbnail: [Volume 72, 1942-43 page 272]](/journals/rsnz/images/rsnz_72/thumbnails/rsnz_72_03_0366_0272_ac_02.gif)
Genus Kurinuia nov.
(From the Kurinui Stream, which flows through Hampden.)
Genotype: Trigonia areolata Marshall. Bortonian (Middle Eocene).
Shell pearly, of moderate size, cordate, beaks strongly prosogyrous. Sculpture: middle and anterior of disc bearing strong, rounded, radial ribs, with narrow interstices; posterior area not excavated, but with a wide, ribless space crossed by regular, low, concentric ridges, sharply defined in front by a deep furrow, and bounded posteriorly by a low, angled rib near the dorsal margin. Right hingebearing a strong, smooth, curved, pointed, cardinal tooth immediately behind the umbo, also a strong lamellate posterior lateral. Valve margins coarsely crenate.
Kurinuia areolata (Marshall). (Plate 23; Figs. 8, 11.)
1919. Trigonia densicostata: Marshall, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. 51, p. 234, pl. 15, fig. 1; pl. 17, fig. 1.
Although the only two specimens available for examination are somewhat broken below the beak, the damage is not so serious as to conceal the essential characters of the hinge. Dr Marshall noted the smooth cardinal tooth and the prosogyrous beaks, but considered these to be a possible Trigonid development. The single smooth cardinal in the right valve is placed on a definite hinge plate and is curved forward and upward to a point rather like Corbula. There is no sign of external ligamental nymphs such as are present in the Trigoniidae, the ligamental groove being internal and running between the posterior lateral tooth and the dorsal margin. Further, the lunule is deeply excavated and the shell is of cordate shape.
All these characters show clearly that the shell is not a Trigonia but is related to Verticordia, from which, however, it differs in being much larger and in having a different kind of sculpture. The hingeresembles that of Haliris Dall, 1886, type Verticordia fischeriana Dall,
![Thumbnail: [Volume 72, 1942-43 page 273]](/journals/rsnz/images/rsnz_72/thumbnails/rsnz_72_03_0367_0273_ac_02.gif)
and also that of Setaliris Iredale, 1930, type Verticordia setosa Hedley; but the strongly differentiated posterior area of areolata is quite peculiar. Agreement may be closer with Euciroa Dall, 1881, type V. elegantissima Dall which has weak ribbing on the posterior area, and is of large size, but which has fine, spiny sculpture. Further, the left hinge figured by Dall (Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. 12, pl. 2, fig. 1b) is evidently not the complement of the right hinge of areolata.
Incidentally, there does not seem to be much difference between Setaliris and Haliris. Iredale (1930, p. 406) gave no reason for his proposal, and as far as one can judge from the figures, setosa may well be closely related to fischeriana. Further, the “Aberrant occurrence” of Hedley's species, mentioned by Iredale (1930, p. 388) presumably referring to Hedley's remarks about the genus Verticordia characterising deeper water, does not apply to the group Haliris, for the type, fischeriana, occurs at much the same depth as the New Zealand setosa, namely, about 100 fathoms.