Palaeontos 4: The Early Pliocene Gastropoda (Mollusca) of Estepona, Southern Spain, Part 2: Orthogastropoda, Neotaenioglossa

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In this work, the second in the series giving a systematic account of the Gastropoda of the Early Pliocene deposits of Estepona, province of Málaga, Spain, part of the Orthogastropoda and Neotaenioglossa are figured, described and discussed. 95 species were encountered, most of them new to the study area. Eight taxa are new to science: Melarhaphe silvae nov. sp., Alvania cathyae nov. sp., Alvania seanlandaui nov. sp., Microstelma lapernae nov. sp., Teinostoma (Megatyloma) magnoiberica nov. sp., Macromphalus lozoueti nov. sp., Hipponix explicatus nov. sp. and Cerithioderma pliocenica nov. sp. The faunal composition is compared with that of the Atlantic, North Sea basin, Mediterranean and Paratethys.

The fauna is rich and diverse, not only in groups well-known to the Pliocene Mediterranean, such as the Turritellidae, Strombidae and Xenophoridae, but in other groups rarely reported in the Pliocene literature, such as the Littorinidae and the Vanikoridae. Of the 95 species treated in this part, 46 are still living, giving an extinction rate of 48%. The presence of Strombus coronatus places the Estepona fauna in the biostratigraphic unit MPMU 1, between 5.0 and 3.0 Ma., roughly equivalent chronostratigraphically to the Early Pliocene (Zanclean + early Piacenzian). We suggested in the first part of this work that the Málaga basin may have been ‘sanctuary’ for certain Miocene species and further taxa are added to this relict fauna in the present work. Within the Rissoidae, similarities between the Recent Mediterranean and West African faunas have recently been reported in the literature and even closer affinities are found between the Early Pliocene Alboran Sea and Recent West African Rissoidae.

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