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Objavljeni brojevi Issue number: Natura Croatica, Vol. 33 No.2

Neopycnodonte Stenzel, 1971 (Bivalvia: Ostreida: Pycnodonteinae) – an interesting grypheid fossil oyster from the Croatian Natural History Museum collections

Authors: Marija Bošnjak, Jasenka Sremac, Donat Petricioli, Tatjana Bakran-Petricioli, Nediljka Prlj Šimić, Davor Vrsaljko

Authors and affiliation

  • Marija Bošnjak Croatian Natural History Museum, Demetrova 1, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
  • Jasenka Sremac Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
  • Donat Petricioli D.I.I.V. for Marine, Freshwater and Subterranean Ecology, Sali, Croatia
  • Tatjana Bakran-Petricioli Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
  • Nediljka Prlj Šimić Croatian Natural History Museum, Demetrova 1, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
  • Davor Vrsaljko Croatian Natural History Museum, Demetrova 1, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

Bivalves of the genus Neopycnodonte Stenzel, 1971 (Ostreida: Gryphaeidae) are known as common bioconstructors from the mesophotic marine environments of the Cenozoic era. Along with mussels, they are among the first taxa to colonize natural and artificial hard substrates, but they live somewhat deeper, being most common between 50 and 150 m. More than eighty specimens of fossil Neopycnodonte from the Neogene deposits of Mt. Medvednica, the Samoborsko gorje Hills, the Glinsko Pokuplje area and Siena (Italy) are housed in the Croatian Natural History Museum (CNHM) under the names: Ostrea cochlear Poli, 1795, Picnodonta cochlear (Poli, 1795) and Picnodonta (Ostrea) cochlear (Poli, 1795) var. navicularis (Brocchi, 1814). The presence of the Pycnodonteinae subfamily was also recorded from several areas in Croatia during the preparation of the Basic Geological Maps. Like many other oysters, pycnodonteins are highly variable in shape and there have been some doubts concerning their taxonomy. The authors support one of the previously suggested taxonomical schemes (Freneix, 1975), assigning the fossil specimens from CNHM to the species Neopycnodonte navicularis (Brocchi, 1814), which is considered a direct ancestor of the recent N. cochlear (Poli, 1795).

Keywords

Pycnodonteinae, Gryphaeidae, Croatian Natural History Museum, taxonomy, palae- obiogeography, palaeoenvironment

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