An Unusual Nayadina (Bivalvia: Malleidae) from the Eocene of South Carolina

Abstract

Nayadina (Exputens) is a North American, Eocene, warm-water, malleid bivalve with Old World Tethyan affinities. Three species are known, and the one with the most widespread distribution is N. (E.) batequensis Squires, 1990, from northwestern Jamaica, the southern part of Baja California, Mexico, and western Washington. In Jamaica, the age of this species is only generally known as Early to Middle Eocene, but elsewhere its age is considered Early Eocene (Squires, 1990, 1992; Squires and Goedert, in press). The second species is the Early to Middle Eocene N. (E.) llajasensis (Clark, 1934) from southern and central California, central Oregon, and western Washington (Squires, 1990, 1992). The third species is the Middle to Late Eocene N. (E.) ocalensis (MacNeil, 1934) from Florida, Georgia , and North Carolina (Squires, 1990). Specimens of Nayadina (Exputens) sp., recently discovered in South Carolina by D. Campbell (this volume), may also represent N. (E. ) ocalensis.