Quaternary continental molluscs from Northern Uruguay: distribution and paleoecology

Abstract

Knowledge of the continental Quaternary molluscs of Northern Uruguay is good at a regional scale. Presently, around 23 genera or species level taxa are recorded. Molluscs are often found as fossil concentrates, and rarely as isolated shells. All species are extant, and all except two are present today in the geographic area studied. All properly identified species are from fresh-water, except two (belonging to one genus) that are terrestrial. Molluscan diversity is associated to subenvironmental diversity of the localities. Dating made on molluscs from the Sopas Formation yielded ages of ca. 43,000 and ca. 45,000 14C y BP.