The European Tertiary Neritiliidae (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Neritopsina): indicators of tropical submarine cave environments and freshwater faunas

The oldest freshwater neritiliid, Neritilia bisinuata , is described from the Middle Eocene of the Loire Basin. Another European species, N. neritinoides , ranging from the Lower Oligocene to Lower Miocene (Upper Burdigalian) is recognized; its habitat appears to have been freshwater, but very close to the sea. Two new marine neritiliid species from the Aquitaine Basin are described: Bourdieria favia sp. nov. from the Upper Oligocene and Pisulinella aucoini  sp. nov. from the Lower Miocene. A third undescribed species from the Lower Miocene is referred to the same family and related to Pisulinella . The Oligocene species has a strong spiral sculpture, a character completely absent in previously known neritiliid species. The genus Agapilia , founded on juvenile N. neritinoides and adult Vitta picta , appears to be a junior synonym of the genus Vitta. The associated occurrence of shells of the families Neritiliidae, Neritopsidae and Pickworthiidae (well‐known inhabitants of Indo‐West Pacific submarine caves) at Peyrère suggest the first occurrence of a characteristic assemblage of dark submarine caves during the Oligocene. Both factorial analysis and relative abundance show that at Peyrère these families are associated with other cryptic fossils (various gastropods, bivalves, Brachiopoda, corals, Annelida). However, there are indications of other submarine cave assemblages in various Cenozoic deposits from the Palaeocene to the middle Miocene. © 2004 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2004, 140 , 447–467.