Observations on Turbinella Scolymoides Dall, with Description of a New Species Turnbinella

Abstract

Turbinella scolymoides Dall (Mollusca, Gastropoda), described from the Pliocene of Florida, has been discovered in the Recent fauna of Yucatan. It is suggested that the common Recent species T. angulata (Solander in Lightfoot) developed independently in the Miocene of the southern Caribbean and subsequently invaded the indigenous northern T. scolymoides population, virtually replacing it except in the asylum of the Yucatan area. The lower age limit of T. scolymoides is tentatively fixed at the Miocene-Pliocene boundary, possibly due to a warming trend in water temperatures at the end of the Miocene.