A Review of the Genus Chorus Gray, 1847 (Gastropoda: Muricidae) from Western South America

Abstract

The muricid genus Chorus Gray, 1847, is represented by a single extant species, C. giganteus (Lesson, 1830), which lives along the coast of central and southern Chile. New fossils from southern Peru extend the temporal range of Chorus from the Pliocene to the Late Miocene (C. frassinettii, n. sp.) and the geographic range of three Chilean species [(C. doliaris (Philippi, 1887), C. grandis (Philippi, 1887), and C. giganteus)] into Peru. Chorus covacevichi, n. sp., is described from the Pliocene of Chile. Consistent morphological criteria are established for distinguishing all known species of Chorus. The genus has been endemic to the Peruvian Province and/or Pacific portion of the Magellanic Province since at least 9 Ma. Extinctions and range contractions of Chorus species near the end of the Pliocene may be due to a loss of habitat related to contemporaneous tectonic and oceanographic events.