New field collections allow the study and description of Valvata juliae new species from the Pliocene upper Burgi Member of the Koobi Fora Formation of Kenya. The shell morphology of this species varies from trochospiral to planispiral to open coiled. The species is restricted to a short stratigraphic interval. Valvata juliae is considered as an invader of the Turkana Basin during a lacustrine transgression event. The open coiling of the species is interpreted as an ecophenotypic response to a high level of environmental stress caused by lake level fluctuations and emergence of delta systems. These environmental conditions brought Valvata juliae to extinction soon after it invaded the Turkana Basin.
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1 September 2010
A New and Open Coiled Valvata (Gastropoda) from the Pliocene Koobi Fora Formation of the Turkana Basin, Northern Kenya
Henning Scholz,
Matthias Glaubrecht
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Journal of Paleontology
Vol. 84 • No. 5
September 2010
Vol. 84 • No. 5
September 2010
Koobi Fora
open coiling
Turkana Basin
Valvata