Abstract
We describe a new fossil littorinid species, Echinolittorina nielseni sp. nov., from the Quaternary Caldera Strata, Region de Atacama, northern Chile. Fossils of littorinids are globally rare because of their high-intertidal habitat on rocky shores. The new species has a large, broad shell with strong spiral ribs and an angled periphery, differing from the two living littorinids currently found along the coasts of mainland Chile and from all the extant species distributed in the southeastern Pacific. In comparison with the living Chilean Echinolittorina peruviana, the new species shows stronger ribs and more inflated whorls, but they share an unusual detail in the irregular arrangement of spiral sculpture. We hypothesize that the new species may be ancestral or sister to E. peruviana and discuss the adaptive significance of shell sculpture.
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