The earliest cowries: the origin of cypraeoid gastropods
Alexander Nützel, Simon Schneider, Sofia Bakayeva, and Andrzej Kaim
Cowries, the family Cypraeidae, form a diverse and conspicuous group of gastropods living in tropical to subtropical seas. Their shell is convolute (last whorl covers all previous ones) with a narrow, slit-like siphonate aperture bearing denticles (“teeth”). When extended, a large part of their shell surface is covered by a soft fleshy mantle. The earliest cowries were reported from the Upper Jurassic of Sicily: Cypraea tithonica and Cypraea gemmellaroi. Subsequently, these species had been assigned to various cypraeid genera. Examination of the type material of Cypraea tithonica reveals that this species represents a new genus: Coffeacypraea Nützel & Schneider. Cypraea gemmellaroi also belongs to this new genus and is potentially synonymous with Coffeacypraea tithonica. The Upper Jurassic caenogastropod genera Colombellina and Zittelia (family Colombellinidae) also have narrowly elongated siphonate apertures and are closely related to Cypraeidae but their shells are not convolute. The origination of Cypraeidae and Colombellinidae contributed considerably to the Mesozoic–Cenozoic caenogastropod radiation.
Key words: Gastropoda, Cypraeoidea, Jurassic, taxonomy, systematics, evolutionary relationships, Sicily, Italy.
Alexander Nützel [nuetzel@snsb.de; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8852-7688], SNSB-Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, Richard-Wagner-Str. 10, 80333 München (Germany); Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Palaeontology and Geobiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Richard-Wagner-Str. 10, 80333 München, Germany; GeoBio-Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Richard-Wagner-Str. 10, 80333 München, Germany. Simon Schneider [simon.schneider@casp.org.uk; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6493-357X]; CASP, West Building, Madingley Rise, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB30UD, UK. Sofia Bakayeva [sofiyabakayeva@gmail.com; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9292-7652], Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland; State Museum of Natural History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Teatralna st. 18, Lviv 79008, Ukraine. Andrzej Kaim [kaim@twarda.pan.pl; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6186-5356], Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Twarda 51/55, 00-818 Warsaw, Poland.
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