PHYSICUS SPELLING ARCHIVE
The deposits of the various European basins, which were covered by the Miocene Paratethys Sea, present an outstanding archive of fossil strombids.
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The correct allocation of all these taxa is crucial for supportingmolecular datawith the fossil record. This newly established system has also been gradually applied to fossil taxa ( Harzhauser and Kronenberg 2008 Wieneke et al. 2006) and suggest very complex phylogeographic patterns. Molecular data generally support their conclusions ( Latiolais et al. After early attempts of Abbott ( 1960), no major breakthrough was achieved before the 21st century when a set of papers tried to clarify the validity of genus-rank taxa and to allocate species groups to these genera ( Kronenberg and Vermeij 2002 Kronenberg and Lee 2005, 2007 Bandel 2007). The phylogeny and the generic affiliations of the various fossil and extant taxa, however, have only been slowly resolved. From the Eocene about five species have been described within the genus Strombus sensuAbbott ( 1960), and during LateOligocene and Miocene times strombids experienced their first main radiation with about 40 species described from the Miocene ( Wieneke et al. They are among the most eye-catching gastropods, and attract a broad community of scientists and collectors.
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Most strombids live in shallow water environments. The Family Strombidae arose during the Eocene and diversified during the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene ( Williams and Duda 2008 and references therein) and is currently represented by about 100 species, restricted to the tropics ( Abbott 1960). is established for a late Badenian species. This value may thus be a realistic estimate for the cool-season sea surface temperatures for Persististrombus-bearing formations. Successfully reproducing populations of extant species of Persististrombus in the Panamic Province and the African-Eastern Atlantic Province are limited in their distribution by the 20☌ isotherm. coronatus with which some of these taxa were confused in the literature so far. Although some of these taxa are distinct species, there is no continuous evolutionary lineage leading to the Pliocene P.
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Yet, within these species the morphology is very variable. The development of sculptured morphs is an iterative process as exceptionally sculptured taxa occur in stratigraphically and geographically discrete phases and areas. European Persististrombus species display a tendency to produce strongly sculptured populations with marked spines or to form populations with elongate shells and reduced sculpture. Based on morphometric measurements on 219 specimens we refine the taxonomic concept for this group and document at least 5 distinct species of high biostratigraphic and biogeographic significance. coronatus, seemingly ranging from the Oligocene to the Pliocene. These have been intermingled so far into two “super-species”, viz.
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Herein, we document the biostratigraphic value of the group based on a succession of short-lived distinct species in Neogene deposits in the circum-Mediterranean area. Strombids are frequent fossils in Neogene nearshore deposits but are rarely used for biostratigraphy due to their poorly defined stratigraphic ranges.