Molluscan assemblages, Aldabra Atoll, Esprit Limestone (Pleistocene of Seychelles)

Where: Seychelles (9.4° S, 46.4° E: paleocoordinates 9.4° S, 46.5° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Esprit Limestone Formation, Late/Upper Pleistocene (0.1 - 0.0 Ma)

Environment/lithology: lagoonal or restricted shallow subtidal; limestone

• a quiet lagoon from 5 to 20 m deep, which in time shallowed, exposed rocks represent only a tiny fraction of the total area of the atoll, evidence of the general environmental framework is lacking
• 8 m of fine-grained calcarenites

Size class: macrofossils

Collected in 1969; reposited in the BMNH

• June-September 1969, small additional quantity in 1973

Primary reference: J. D. Taylor. 1978. Faunal response to the instability of reef habitats: Pleistocene molluscan assemblages of Aldabra Atoll. Palaeontology 21(1):1-30 [W. Kiessling/A. Girndt]more details

Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis

PaleoDB collection 80964: authorized by Wolfgang Kiessling, entered by Antje Girndt on 24.05.2008

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Ulvophyceae
 Bryopsidales - Halimedaceae
Halimeda sp. Lamouroux 1812
Anthozoa
 Scleractinia - Merulinidae
Goniastrea sp. Milne-Edwards and Haime 1848 stony coral
 Scleractinia - Faviidae
Favia sp. Oken 1815 stony coral
Gastropoda
 Cerithioidea - Cerithiidae
Cerithium sp. Bruguière 1789 cerith snail
common
Cerithium morum cerith snail
 Cerithioidea - Potamididae
Cerithidea sp. Swainson 1840 horn snail
Terebralia palustris Linnaeus 1767 horn snail
 Sorbeoconcha - Strombidae
Terebellum terebellum Linnaeus 1758 true conch
common
Strombus sp. Linnaeus 1758 conch
common
Bivalvia
 Arcida - Glycymerididae
Glycymeris sp. Da Costa 1778 clam
possibly tenuicostatus
 Pectinida - Pectinoidae
Chlamys sp. Röding 1798 scallop
 Cardiida - Veneridae
Dosinia exilium venus clam
Dosinia nanus venus clam
 Cardiida - Cardiidae
Fragum fragum Linnaeus 1758 cockle
common
Hippopus hippopus Linnaeus 1758 cockle
Trachycardium sp. Mörch 1853 cockle
common
 Cardiida - Tellinidae
"Tellinella sp." = Tellina (Tellinella)
"Tellinella sp." = Tellina (Tellinella) Mörch 1853 tellin clam
abundant