As part of the ongoing series of taxonomic monographs published by the Paleontological Research Institution covering the Neogene fossils of the Cibao Valley in the northern Dominican Republic, the present study focuses on the marine gastropod superfamily Cypraeoidea. Thirty-one species of cypraeoideans are documented and figured from Miocene and Pliocene strata of the Cibao Valley, Dominican Republic. 

This diversity is an important increase from the twelve cypraeoidean species previously described from Dominican Republic strata. In addition, there are six extant Caribbean species that are also found in the fossil record. Once unreliable historical records are removed or reassessed, 58% of the species are endemic to the Dominican Republic assemblages. Of note is the presence of the ovulid genus Jenneria, represented by three species in these Dominican Republic assemblages; this is a paciphile genus today restricted to the Pacific side of its originally wider Neogene distribution on either side of the Isthmus of Panama.

Lindsey T. Groves and Bernard M. Landau

Pages: 110

Issue: BAP 401

Year published: 2021