Relationships of Cretaceous Neritimorpha (Gastropoda, Mollusca), with the description of seven new species

 

Authors: Bandel K, Kiel S

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 78, issue 1; pages: 53 - 65; Received 6 June 2002; Accepted in revised form 16 December 2002;

Keywords: Gastropoda, Neritimorpha, Cretaceous, phylogeny, taxonomy, new taxa,

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Abstract

Cretaceous Neritimorpha comprise several morphologically, ecologically, and phylogenetically distinct groups. There are three mainly Mesozoic, fully marine groups: the few relict species of Neritopsis, the limpets of the Pileolidae, and the widespread neritid Otostoma, with its axially ribbed, Nerita-shaped shells. The extant marine neritid Nerita seems to have had its origin in the Late Cretaceous; the oldest representatives known to us are from the Santonian of South Africa. There are at least four neritimorph groups present in the Cretaceous that independently adapted to brackish and freshwater. In the case of Mesoneritina this adaptation took place in the Jurassic, in the case of the Deianiridae in the mid-Cretaceous, in Schwardtina at latest in the Santonian, and in Neritoplica, which supposedly gave rise to the extant Neritininae, in the Campanian/Maastrichtian. The new species are: Nerita squiresi, Otostoma vidali, Neritoplica dockeryi, Neritoplica oppenheimi, Neritoplica trochispira, Mesoneritina ajkaensis, and Pileolus ponsi.