A new species of Umbilia Jousseaume, 1884 (Mollusca, Cypraeidae) from the Pliocene fauna of the Roe Plains, Western Australia

Paul C Southgate; Thane A Militz

doi:10.3897/zookeys.1169.106338

A new species of Umbilia Jousseaume, 1884 (Mollusca, Cypraeidae) from the Pliocene fauna of the Roe Plains, Western Australia

Zookeys. 2023 Jul 5:1169:1-13. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.1169.106338. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Paul C Southgate¹, Thane A Militz¹

Affiliation

¹ School of Science, Technology & Engineering and Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland 4556, Australia University of the Sunshine Coast Sippy Downs Australia.

Abstract

A new morphologically distinct species of cowry (family Cypraeidae Rafinesque, 1815) is described from the Late Pliocene Roe Calcarenite of the Roe Plains, Western Australia. Previously assigned to Umbiliahesitata (Iredale, 1916), the new species differs morphometrically from related taxa and is differentiated from U.hesitata by a number of shell features including a prominent, projecting protoconch, less extended posterior and anterior terminals, coarser columellar teeth extending onto the base, and well-developed, thickened anterior flanges, supporting a rounded anterior extremity with blunt anterior tips. Umbiliatomdarraghi sp. nov. is the third Umbilia species to be described from the Pliocene.

Keywords: Cowrie; Roe Calcarenite; Umbiliatomdarraghi sp. nov.; cowry; fossil; taxonomy.

Paul C. Southgate, Thane A. Militz.

Grants and funding

University of the Sunshine Coast Research Initiative