Ellobium ” pyramidale (J. de C. Sowerby, 1822)

Bouchard, Blanche, Wesselingh, Frank P., Pouwer, Ronald & Landau, Bernard, 2025, The Gelasian gastropod fauna of Selsoif (Manche, France), Geodiversitas 47 (3), pp. 39-91 : 80

“ Ellobium ” pyramidale (J. de C. Sowerby, 1822) ( Fig. 14G 1-G 3 )

Auricula pyramidalis J. de C. Sowerby, 1822: 109 , pl. 379, fig. 12.

Ellobium pyramidale – Ceulemans et al. 2018: 140, pl. 9, figs 3-5.

For more, see synonymy list in Ceulemans et al. (2018).

MATERIAL AND DIMENSIONS. — Maximum height 23.5 mm, width 13.2 mm. — RGM.1364933 (7), leg. WG ; RGM.1365025 (11), leg. ACJ ; RGM.1365127 (15), leg. AWJ ; RGM.1365208 (1), leg. AWJ .

SPECIES CHARACTERISATION. — Shell medium sized, globular, teleoconch composed of about eight smooth whorls, except for subsutural cord (abraded in most specimens); spire whorls flat-sided, last whorl inflated, aperture elongate-ovate with two narrow columellar teeth, narrow, deep umbilicus.

DISTRIBUTION. — Lower Pliocene: NSB, Red Crag, England (Harmer 1923); Atlantic, NW France ( Ceulemans et al. 2018). — Upper Pliocene: Atlantic, St Erth, England (Harmer 1923); NSB, Red Crag, England ( Wood 1848; Harmer 1923), Oorderen Sands, Belgium ( Marquet 1997). — Pliocene (indeterminate): NSB, Netherlands ( Van Regteren Altena et al. 1964). — Upper Pliocene-Pleistocene: Atlantic, NW France ( Brébion 1964). — Lower Pleistocene: Selsoif, NW France (this paper).

REMARK

This is the only terrestrial pulmonate gastropod in the Selsoif fauna. Ellobiids typically live in supratidal habitats. This species has usually been placed in the genus Ellobium Röding, 1798 but Harzhauser et al. (2023) showed that Ellobium is an Indo-Pacific genus that disappeared from the European faunas around the Oligocene/Miocene boundary. Therefore, attribution to a more appropriate genus is required but that is beyond the scope of this work.

Figures

FIG. 14. — Gastropods from Selsoif. All illustrated specimens are collected from the Sablière du Grand Marais, Selsoif, France and come from the Early Pleistocene Saint-Nicolas de Pierrepont Formation (continuation): A, Ondina cf. micropeas (Boettger, 1902), RGM.1365213, leg ACJ, H = 2.13 mm; B, Menestho derivata (Wood, 1879), RGM.1365207, leg AWJ, H = 1.56 mm; C, Spiralina alpinoligustica (Sacco, 1892), RGM.1365205, leg AWJ, H = 1.23 mm; D, Chemnitzia?lactea (Linnaeus, 1758), RGM.1364932, leg WG, H = 4.39 mm; E, Turbonilla indet., RGM.1365305, leg AWJ, H = 1.32 mm; F, Chrysallida indet., RGM.1365324, leg AWJ, H = 1.12 mm; G, “Ellobium” pyramidale (J. de C. Sowerby, 1822), RGM.1365208, leg AWJ, H = 13 mm. Scale bars: A-C, E, F, 1 mm; D, 2 mm; G, 5mm.

FIG. 1. — Simplified geological map of the Normandy region (after Dugué et al. 2000 and Pareyn 1987) showing the location of Selsoif:1, Precambrian-Palaeozoic basement; 2, Permo-Mesozoic Paris Basin fill; 3, Neogene-Quaternary subbasins.

FIG. 3. — Simplified biographic map of South-West of Europe (after Landau et al. 2011).