A new look at the bivalve Anomia ephippium Linnæus, 1758 from the Miocene of the Central Paratethys: an example from the Nowy Sącz Basin in Poland

Abstract

For the first time, articulated shells of Anomia ephippium Linnæus, 1758, the bivalve species widely distributed in the Egerian–Late Badenian (latest early Oligocene to late middle Miocene) in the Central Paratethys, are described and illustrated. The most astonishing fact is the presence of a heavily calcified byssus that anchored the animal to hard substrates, which is still preserved inside the byssal notch. The investigated material derives from the Badenian (middle Miocene) Niskowa Formation in the Nowy Sącz Basin, a small intramontane basin situated in the Polish Outer Carpathians. Apart from articulated shells and left valves, the collected material contains some dozen of calcified byssi fixed to rigid substrate, SEM images of which are presented. Examination of the A. ephippium specimens stored in the Polish Academy of Sciences, Museum of the Earth in Warsaw revealed other Paratethyan records of anomiid calcified byssi attached to other specimens of A. ephippium. Finally, the paper provides an overview of the previous studies on the representatives of the genus Anomia Linnæus, 1758 from the Central Paratethys and its specific assignment.