Diverse new tropical land snail species from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Cyclophoroidea, Assimineidae). (March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bullis, David A.; Herhold, Hollister W.; Czekanski-Moir, Jesse E.; Grimaldi, David A.; Rundell, Rebecca J.
• Is Part Of: Cretaceous research. Volume 107(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-03
• Subjects: Diplommatinidae -- Cyclophoridae -- Pupinidae -- Assimineidae -- Burmese amber; Geology, Stratigraphic -- Cretaceous -- Periodicals; 551.77
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104267
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0195-6671

Abstract

Abstract: The amber fossil record of land snails is poorly studied, with few described species relative to other invertebrate groups (e.g., insects and chelicerates). Recently discovered land snail amber fossils from Myanmar present an important opportunity to understand the tropical land snail fauna of the Cretaceous, which was a time when many terrestrial invertebrates were rapidly diversifying. We describe 12 new land snail species in 3 families from mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber: Eotrichophorus kachin gen. et sp. nov., Perissocyclos kyrtostoma gen. et sp. nov., Macropupina electricus gen. et sp. nov., Paleodiplommatina spelomphalos gen. et sp. nov., Xenostoma lophopleura gen. et sp. nov. and Assiminea striatura sp. nov. and six species of uncertain taxonomic affinity. We also discuss the fossil history of the Cyclophoroidea. We report the first mid-Cretaceous land snail species with periostracal hairs and discuss their adaptive significance, as well as the general paleoecology of Burmese mid-Cretaceous tropical land snails.