Published October 28, 2024
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A call to address the taxonomic gap in the Pleistocene of Santa Maria Island (Azores Archipelago)

Creators

  • 1. BIOPOLIS Association – Research Network on Biodiversity and Evolution Biology, CIBIO, Centro de Investigaçãoem Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos, InBIO Laboratório Associado, Pólo dos Açores, Azores, Portugal
  • 2. Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologias, R. Mãe de Deus 13A, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada; São Miguel, Açores, Portugal
  • 3. MPB-Marine PalaeoBiogeography Lab, University of the Azores, Rua da Mãe de Deus, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, Açores, Portugal
  • 4. UNESCO Chair – Land Within Sea: Biodiversity & Sustainability in Atlantic Islands, Universidade dos Açores, R. Mãe de Deus 13A, 9500-321 Ponta Delgada, Portugal
  • 5. Instituto Dom Luiz (IDL), Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal
  • 6. International Health Centres, Av. Infante de Henrique 7, Areias São João, P-8200 Albufeira, Portugal
  • 7. Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, Netherlands
  • 8. Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade do Porto, Portugal
  • 9. University of Porto
  • 10. Institute of Geological Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 3a, 30-387 Kraków, Poland
  • 11. Jagiellonian University
  • 12. Department of Geosciences, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267, U.S.A.

Description

Taxonomic impediment and taxonomic gap are two major problems that challenge the advancement of biological and palaeontological sciences such as (palaeo)ecology and (palaeo)biogeography. In an effort to overcome these difficulties, the Last Interglacial fossiliferous deposits from the Island of Santa Maria (Azores Archipelago, Portugal) have been intensively studied during the last two decades. The epitoniid gastropod Epitonium jani Segers, Swinnen and De Prins, 2009 is an example, herein, of a new addition to the fossil record worldwide. This finding increases the number of fossil molluscs reported from the warmest period of the Last Interglacial deposits of the Azores (Marine Isotopic Substage 5e; MIS 5e) to 138 taxa (114 Gastropoda and 24 Bivalvia). As in other insular settings, the Phylum Mollusca is the best represented marine group in the Pliocene and Pleistocene (MIS 5e) fossiliferous outcrops and an update on the palaeobiodiversity of the Azores Archipelago is provided, herein.
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