JAMINIA (JAMINIA) MALATESTAE ESU, 1988 (MOLLUSCA, GASTROPODA, ENIDAE) FROM THE MIDDLE AND LATE PLEISTOCENE OF CENTRAL-SOUTHERN ITALY. PALAEOECOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

D’Amico C. & Esu D., Jaminia (Jaminia) malatestae ESU, 1988 (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Enidae) from the Middle and Late Pleistocene of Central-Southern Italy. Palaeoecological implications. Jaminia (Jaminia) malatestae is a fossil land gastropod of the family Enidae. The species described by ESU (1988) was dedicated to the Quaternarist geologist and palaeontologist Alberto Malatesta who recognized, at the base of the Ponte Galeria formation (Rome), the “Blue-grey Helicella bearing clays”, stratum typicum of the species, dated to the early Middle Pleistocene. J. (J.) malatestae is an endemic species of central-southern Italy ranging from the early Middle Pleistocene to the Late Pleistocene. It was recovered from deposits with oligotypical assemblages of terrestrial gastropods and small mammals of cold-arid climate. During the Middle Pleistocene the species occurred in Lazio, at Fontignano and San Cosimato (Ponte Galeria and Aurelia formations, Rome) in an oligotypic molluscan assemblage of cold climate and reworked in a politypic assemblage of temperate-warm climate respectively, and in Abruzzo, at Case Picconetto (Pescara) in a palaeosol of an alluvial deposit, associated with non-marine mollusc species typical of open environments and cold climate. In the Middle and/or Late Pleistocene the species occurred in Marche, at Gola della Rossa (Ancona) in a cave-fill deposit with oligotypic molluscs of mountain grassland, and at Polesio (Ascoli Piceno) in a sandy layer interbedded to gravels of the last glacial period, associated with gastropods of open environment and cold climate. In the Late Pleistocene (last gacial period) the species occurred in Campania with oligotypic molluscan assemblage of cold climate from a loess deposit at Telese (Calore River valley) and from a sandy layer interbedded to gravels at Tufino (Naples). Both the structure of the molluscan assemblages and the autoecology of the accompanying species suggest that J. (J.) malatestae populated open-dry palaeoenvironments in the central-southern Italian peninsula during cold climatic periods of the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Its record in non-marine Quaternary deposits of Italy is an useful tool to infer reliable palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatical information.