A call to address the taxonomic gap in the Pleistocene of Santa Maria Island (Azores Archipelago)

Abstract

Taxonomic impediment and taxonomic gap are two major problems that challenge the advancement of biological and palaeontological sciences such as (palaeo)ecology and (palaeo)biogeography. In an effort to overcome these difficulties, the Last Interglacial fossiliferous deposits from the Island of Santa Maria (Azores Archipelago, Portugal) have been intensively studied during the last two decades. The epitoniid gastropod Epitonium jani Segers, Swinnen and De Prins, 2009 is an example, herein, of a new addition to the fossil record worldwide. This finding increases the number of fossil molluscs reported from the warmest period of the Last Interglacial deposits of the Azores (Marine Isotopic Substage 5e; MIS 5e) to 138 taxa (114 Gastropoda and 24 Bivalvia). As in other insular settings, the Phylum Mollusca is the best represented marine group in the Pliocene and Pleistocene (MIS 5e) fossiliferous outcrops and an update on the palaeobiodiversity of the Azores Archipelago is provided, herein.