Journal article

Publication year: 2012

Pages: 23-41

Journal: Paläontologische Zeitschrift

Volume number: 86

Issue number: 1

ISSN: 0031-0220

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-011-0117-x

Publisher: Springer

Abstract: 
The mollusc fauna of the early Middle Miocene (Langhian) intramontane Alpine Lake Groisenbach is described for the first time. The shells derive from the Feistring Formation in the Aflenz Basin in Austria, which was covered by Lake Groisenbach. The assemblage is moderately diverse with 12 gastropod and 2 bivalve species, suggesting shallow lacustrine and fluvial settings. Among the gastropods, only Theodoxus crenulatus (Klein, 1853) is known from other Miocene localities, whilst all other species are documented so far only from Lake Groisenbach. None of the Early and Middle Miocene lake systems of the Alpine-Carpathian Foredeep and the Balkan Peninsula displays any faunistic resemblance with this new fauna. Even coeval lake faunas from the close-by Graz Basin have no species in common with Lake Groisenbach. This pattern points to a surprising endemicity and biogeographic fragmentation in the Central European freshwater systems during the Early and Middle Miocene. The uniqueness of the newly described fauna is also indicated by the completely erratic occurrence of the otherwise African-Mediterranean genus Bulinus, which is unknown from all other central European Miocene freshwater systems. Emmericia roetzeli Harzhauser and Neubauer nov. sp., Nematurella zuschini Neubauer and Harzhauser nov. sp., Romania fastigata Neubauer and Harzhauser nov. sp., Odontohydrobia groisenbachensis Neubauer and Harzhauser nov. sp., Odontohydrobia pompatica Neubauer and Harzhauser nov. sp., Odontohydrobia styriaca Harzhauser and Neubauer nov. sp., Planorbis austroalpinus Harzhauser and Neubauer nov. sp., Gyraulus sachsenhoferi Harzhauser and Neubauer nov. sp., Bulinus corici Harzhauser and Neubauer nov. sp., Ferrissia crenellata Harzhauser and Neubauer nov. sp. and Stagnicola reinholdkunzi Harzhauser and Neubauer nov. sp. are introduced as new species.

Harvard Citation style: Harzhauser, M., Neubauer, T., Mandic, O., Zuschin, M. and Coric, S. (2012) A Middle Miocene endemic freshwater mollusc assemblage from an intramontane Alpine lake (Aflenz Basin, Eastern Alps, Austria), Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 86(1), pp. 23-41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-011-0117-x

APA Citation style: Harzhauser, M., Neubauer, T., Mandic, O., Zuschin, M., & Coric, S. (2012). A Middle Miocene endemic freshwater mollusc assemblage from an intramontane Alpine lake (Aflenz Basin, Eastern Alps, Austria). Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 86(1), 23-41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-011-0117-x