Paleonet: New publication available

[Paula M Mikkelsen]

Paleontological Research Institution is proud to announce publication
of Bulletins of American Paleontology, no. 381, "Neogene paleontology
of the northern Dominican Republic. 24. Propeamussiidae and Pectinidae
(Mollusca: Bivalvia: Pectinoidea) of the Cibao Valley," by  Thomas R.
Waller (198 pp., 8 text-figs, 24 tables, 18 pls, ISBN
978-0-87710-494-0). See abstract below. The retail price is US $60.00.
Please order online at www.priweb.org or email me directly for a
proforma invoice. Members of PRI and booksellers should contact me
first to receive discount prices for this and other publications of
PRI.

Abstract: Based on approximately 25,000 specimens from the Miocene and
Pliocene of the Cibao Valley, northern Dominican Republic, the bivalve
family Propeamussiidae is represented by two genera and four species,
including two new species, Cyclopecten acuminatus and C. zalaya; the
family Pectinidae is represented by three subfamilies, six tribes, 18
genera, and 35 species. New taxa in the Pectinidae include six new
genera (Interchlamys, Chagrepecten, Gurabopecten, Paraleptopecten,
Zamorapecten, and Antillipecten), 15 new species (Caribachlamys
guayubinensis, C. jungi, Mimachlamys blowi, M. vokesorum, Palliolum?
cibaoense, Argopecten parathetidis, Chagrepecten paracactaceus,
Gurabopecten uniplicatus, Lindapecten baitoaensis, L. paramuscosus,
Euvola gurabensis, Zamorapecten maoensis, Antillipecten janicoensis,
A. microlineatus, and A. quemadosensis), one species in open
nomenclature (Paraleptopecten sp. a), and one new subspecies
(Argopecten eccentricus lacabrensis). In addition, a new name, Euvola
jamaicensis, replaces the name E. barretti (Woodring, 1925).
Lectotypes are designated for Cyclopecten guppyi (Dall, 1898) and
Cryptopecten phrygium (Dall, 1886). Four of the genera (20%) and all
but four of the species (90%) in the two families are extinct. Among
the Pectinidae, 60% of the species but only 5% of the genera are
endemic to the northern Dominican Republic. The high species endemism
is possibly an artifact due to the absence in many other regions of
precisely correlative strata as well as to differences in facies and
sampling methods. Assemblages of the two families change composition
going upward in stratigraphic sections measured along each major
river, reflecting increasing depth of deposition, changing bottom
conditions, and association with coral reefs or marine grasses and
algae. Evolutionary changes within particular lineages help to resolve
several previous biostratigraphic uncertainties and controversies,
including the age of limestones on the Río Yaque del Norte and in the
Guayubín area. Detailed study of these changes has also shed new light
on the causes of dramatic faunal differences between stratigraphic
sections on the Río Gurabo and Río Mao, separated by only 10 km.


********************************************
Paula M. Mikkelsen, Ph.D.
Associate Director for Science
and Director of Publications
Paleontological Research Institution
1259 Trumansburg Road
Ithaca, NY 14850
Tel. (607) 273-6623, ext. 20
Fax (607) 273-6620
email  pmm37 at cornell.edu

"No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone
else's draft."  -H. G. Wells

See "Seashells of Southern Florida: Living Marine Mollusks of the
Florida Keys and Adjacent Regions: Bivalves" and BivAToL - Assembling
the Bivalve tree of Life.

On Exhibit at Museum of the Earth:
Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway, June 10 - September 4, 2011

PRI and its Museum of the Earth are part of Ithaca's Discovery Trail.