Abstract
The biodiversity of Eocene Cerithioidean gastropods from a subtropical marine littoral environment, including mangroves with Nypa palms, is documented from the Figols Group (FG) and the overlying Castigaleu Group (CG) of the Ager and the Tremp–Graus basins (south–central Pyrenees, Spain). The stratigraphic interval includes the middle and upper Ypresian, encompassing the early Eocene climatic optimum (EECO). The malacofauna comprises a rich association of possibly intertidal species, dominated by Potamididae, Batillariidae, Pachychilidae, and Cerithiidae, with subordinate Melanopsidae, Thiaridae, Diastomidae, and Pachymelaniidae. The subtidal fauna is dominated by Turritellidae. The Cerithioidea fossil distribution is interpreted according to their local palaeoenvironmental gradients and through their genus-level stratigraphic distributions and according to known molecular phylogeny, ecology, and geographical range of Recent forms. The Cerithioidean record during the Palaeogene is revised on a global scale to obtain insights into the evolution across the EECO of some of the most widespread intertidal tropical organisms. The results suggest that Potamididae were adapted to mangrove trees since their first important diversification in Western Tethys and that some early Eocene genera survive in Recent mangrove-fringed coasts. In addition, the Batillariidae are very abundant and widespread in intertidal assemblages, undergoing rapid early Eocene turnovers, but within genera unrelated to modern forms. EECO Pachychilidae lived in brackish water habitats, contrary to purely freshwater Recent species. Turritellidae display an environmental distribution in the early Eocene similar to their modern distribution.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Allmon, W. D. (1988). Ecology of Recent turritelline gastropods (Prosobranchia, Turritellidae): Current knowledge and paleontological implications. Palaios,3, 259–284.
Dominici, S., & Kowalke, T. (2007). Depositional dynamics and the record of ecosystem stability: Early Eocene coastal communities in the Pyrenean foreland, Spain. Palaios,22, 268–284.
Ellison, A. M., Farnsworth, E. J., & Merkt, R. E. (1999). Origins of mangrove ecosystems and the mangrove biodiversity anomaly. Global Ecology and Biogeography,8, 95–115.
Houbrick, R. S. (1993). Phylogenetic relationships and generic review of the Bittiinae (Prosobranchia: Cerithioidea). Malacologia,35, 261–313.
Ozawa, T., Köhler, F., Reid, D. G., & Glaubrecht, M. (2009). Tethyan relicts on continental coastlines of the northwestern Pacific Ocean and Australasia: Molecular phylogeny and fossil record of batillariid gastropods (Caenogastropoda, Cerithioidea). Zoologica Scripta,38, 503–525.
Reid, D. G., Dyal, P., Lozouet, P., Glaubrecht, M., & Williams, S. T. (2008). Mudwhelks and mangroves: The evolutionary history of an ecological association (Gastropoda: Potamididae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution,47, 680–699.
Ricklefs, R. E., Schwarzbach, A. E., & Renner, S. S. (2006). Rate of Lineage Origin Explains the Diversity Anomaly in the World’s Mangrove Vegetation. American Naturalist,168, 805–810.
Strong, E.E., Colgan, D.J., Healy, J.M., Lydeard, C., Ponder, W.F., & Glaubrecht, M. (2011). Phylogeny of the gastropod superfamily Cerithioidea using morphology and molecules. Zoological Journal Linnean Society 162, 43–89.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Dominici, S., Kowalke, T. (2014). Early Eocene Cerithioidean Gastropods from a Subtropical Coast Environment (South–Central Pyrenees, Spain). In: Rocha, R., Pais, J., Kullberg, J., Finney, S. (eds) STRATI 2013. Springer Geology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04364-7_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04364-7_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-04363-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-04364-7
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)