Cypraeoidea and Lamellarioidea (Mollusca: Gastropoda), From the Chipola Formation (Late Early Miocene) of Northwestern Florida

Abstract

This contribution increases the number from eleven previously known species (six described from the Chipola Formation) to 20 species of Cypraeoidea and six of Lamellarioidea living in Florida during the late Early Miocene, a total that makes the Chipola assemblage the most diversified lower Miocene cypraeid fauna in the New World, second only to western Europe in the entire world. Siphocypraea chilona (Da11, 1900) is recognized from the Dominican Republic and from France, and is documented from the Aquitanian to the Tortonian. Talparia (Talparia) dominicensis (Gabb, 1873), Mauritia (Mauritia) campbelliana (Pilsbry, 1922), and Erronea (Adusta) spurcoides (Gabb, 1873), described from the Dominican Republic and also found in the Chipola Formation, have their geographic distribution expanded. The first of these is present in the Early Miocene of Aquitaine (France) and the second appears in the Late Oligocene of the same basin. These observations are the result of ongoing work on the cypraeid faunas of the Middle Tertiary of western Europe. Fourteen new species and one new subspecies are described, and their relationships are discussed. The genera Zoila (Southwestern Australian Province), Trona (West-African Province), Talparia (s.s.), Mauritia (s.s.), Erronea (s.l.), Lyncina, and Bistolida (Indo-Pacific Province), are noted for the first time in the New World. The genus Siphocypraea, the Ovulidae (with four species), and the Triviidae (with five species) enhance the essential components of the Recent Caribbean and Panamic Provinces. Numerous elements of this fauna, situated in a basin between the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic Provinces, suggest a more than usual biogeographic interest.