Limpet-shaped gastropods of the genus Diodora (Vetigastropoda: Fissurellidae) from the Middle Miocene of Western Ukraine

Abstract

The genus Diodora Gray, 1821 is widely represented in the Middle Miocene of the Central Paratethys with specimens usually attributed to D. graeca (Linnaeus, 1758) or D. italica (Defrance, 1820), well-known recent species of the Atlantic / Mediterranean Basin. In samples from the Upper Badenian of Western Ukraine we found two clusters of Diodora specimens, showing a similarity with these species, but a review of shell diagnostic characters using a statistical approach has revealed their clear conchological separateness. The first species from Varovtsi and Horodok is attributed herein to D. nodosa (Eichwald, 1830), whereas the second species from Maksymivka is described as a new species, D. stalennuyi sp. nov. We consider that these molluscs inhabited the Polish-Ukrainian marginal part of the Late Badenian Basin. Detailed descriptions of the protoconch and teleoconch morphology of the taxa involved, including SEM images, are presented.