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Modern and fossil Potamids (Gastropoda) in saline lakes

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Abstract

Potamids generally live in estuaries, lagoons, and along protected sea shores. However, their ability to colonize intracontinental lakes has been underestimated due to non- or misidentifications. Potamides conicus, the only present lacustrine Potamid currently found in North Africa, belongs to a lagoon-type (thalassoid) malacofauna, dominated by the Cardium Cerastoderma glaucum: this fauna occurs in association with Foraminifera (especially Ammonia beccarii) and Ostracoda (Cyprideis gr. Torosa). Potamids have been found 250 to 900 km from the nearest sea shore: passive dispersal (probably through birds) is the primary dispersal mechanism. Shell morphology and ornamentation can be used to characterize life environment (lacustrine versus marine) but not distance from sea shore. The presence of Potamid-Foraminifera fauna in the fossil record has been interpreted as providing evidence for a sea connection (e.g., gulfs, lagoons). However, more recent paleoecological studies have demonstrated that such assemblages span an ecological gradient from freshwater to hypersaline lacustrine environments. Thus, the occurrence of modern Potamids in lacustrine (in addition to maritime) environments has important implications for Quaternary and Tertiary paleogeographic investigations. Lacustrine Potamids have been recorded from the European Tertiary (France, Spain) and from the Sahara Holocene. More research is required for the better understanding of the distribution and ecology of Potamids in modern and fossil lakes of other continents.

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  1. Laboratoire de Pétrologie Sédimentaire et Paléontologie, (UA 723 of the CNRS), Université Paris-Sud, Bât. 504, 91405, Orsay Cedex, France

    Jean-Claude Plaziat

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Plaziat, JC. Modern and fossil Potamids (Gastropoda) in saline lakes. J Paleolimnol 8, 163–169 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00119788

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