First species of the genus Plaxiphora Gray, 1847 (Mollusca: Polyplacophora) from the Paleocene of Europe

B.I. Sirenko and B. Dell’Angelo

Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS, 2024, 328(3): 379–383 · https://doi.org/10.31610/trudyzin/2024.328.3.379

Full text

Abstract

The first species of the genus Plaxiphora from the Paleocene of Ukraine is described. The characteristic features of Plaxiphora luzanovkae sp. nov. are the strongly increasing size of tegmentum granules toward the edge of the valve, a large number of micraesthetes on these granules, and a random arrangement of the granules. Since the predominant occurrence of the species of the genus is in the Southern Hemisphere, with almost half found in New Zealand and Australia, it is likely that the first species of the genus originated during the final disintegration of Gondwana.

Key words

Cenozoic, fossil chitons, Mopaliidae, new species

Submitted July 5, 2023 · Accepted May 21, 2024 · Published online August 19, 2024

References

Barron E.J., Harrison C.G.A., Sloan J.L. and Hay W.W. 1981. Paleogeography, 180 million years ago to the present. Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae, 74(2): 443–470.

Beu A.G. and Maxwell P.A. 1990. Cenozoic Mollusca of New Zealand (drawings by R.C. Brazier). New Zealand Geological Survey Paleontological Bulletin, 58: 1–518.

Cotton B.C. and Godfrey F.K. 1940. The Molluscs of South Australia. Part II. Scaphopoda, Cephalopoda, Aplacophora and Crepipoda. In: British Science Guild, South Australian Branch Handbook of the Flora and Fauna of South Australia. Frank Trigg, Adelaide: 317–600.

Gray J.E. 1847. A list of the genera of recent Mollusca, their synonymy and types. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 15: 129–206. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1847.tb00164.x

Kaas P. and Van Belle R.A. 1994. Monograph of living chitons (Mollusca: Polyplacophora). Volume 5. Ischnochitonidae: Ischnochitoninae (concluded), Callistoplacinae; Mopaliidae. Additions to Volumes 1–4. E.J. Brill, Leiden, 402 p. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004431713

Makarenko D.E. 1976. Gastropods of the Lower Paleocene of the Northern Ukraine. Naukova Dumka, Kiev, 180 p. [In Russian].

Phillips J.D. and Forsyth D. 1972. Plate tectonics, paleomagnetism and the opening of the Atlantic. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 83: 1579–1600. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1972)83[1579:PTPATO]2.0.CO;2

Sirenko B.I. 2006. New outlook on the system of chitons (Mollusca: Polyplacophora). Venus, 65: 81–89.

Sirenko B.I. 2012. Chitons (Mollusca, Polyplacophora) of Nha Trang Bay, South Vietnam. In: T.A. Britayev and D.S. Pavlov (Eds). Benthic fauna of the Bay of Nha Trang, South Vietnam. Vol. 2. KMK Scientific Press Ltd, Moscow: 56–122.

Sirenko B.I. 2021. First Paleocene Lepidozona (Mollusca, Polyplacophora: Chitonida) from Ukraine. Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS, 325(4): 379–383. https://doi.org/10.31610/trudyzin/2021.325.4.379

Stilwell J.D. 2003. Patterns of biodiversity and faunal rebound following the K–T boundary extinction event in Austral Palaeocene molluscan faunas. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology, Paleoecology, 195(3–4): 319–356. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0031-0182(03)00364-X

Van Belle R.A. 1981. Catalogue of fossil chitons (Mollusca: Polyplacophora). Dr. W. Backhuys, Publisher, Rotterdam, 83 p. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004631854

Zonenshain L.P., Kuzmin M.I., Kononov M.B. and Gorodnitsky A.M. 1984. Paleozoic oceans: an attempt of absolute reconstruction. In: Proceedings of the 27th International Geological Congress. Paleooceanology, Collegium 03. Vol. 3. Nauka, Moscow: 35–46. [In Russian].