Kermadec Island giant limpet occurring fossil in New Zealand,and relict distributions in the tropics |
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| Authors: | C A Fleming |
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| Institution: | New Zealand Geological Survey, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research , Lower Hutt |
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| Abstract: | A large fossil limpet from the Isolated Hill Limestone (Oligocene) of Mason River, Marlborough, is described as Patella (Scutellastra) kermadecensis aurorae n. subsp., a subspecies of the living Kermadec giant limpet. Thus this limpet is not a primary endemic species at the Kermadec Islands, but a surviving relict population of a species formerly more widespread during the Tertiary. Such relict populations in the Indo‐West Pacific imply that the tropics were not immune from the effects of Pleistocene climatic fluctuations. |
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