The genus Granulina (Gastropoda, Marginellidae) from the Atlantic Iberian Pliocene with description of a new species from Portugal

The marginellid Granulina choffati n.sp. is described from Pliocene, uppermost Zanclean to lower Piacenzian, shallow-water sandy beds cropping out in central-west Portugal. This is the first record of Granulina from the Atlantic European Pliocene. G. choffati n.sp. is markedly similar to G. elliptica La Perna, 2000, known from the Pliocene of Sicily, and both species share close similarities to the Recent West African species G. nofronii Smriglio, Gubbioli and Mariottini, 2001. The two Pliocene species are regarded as thermophilic elements of southern affinity. The Pliocene distribution of Granulina in the East Atlantic ranged at least up to 40°N along the Iberian coasts and it is hypothesized that this limit shifted southward because of the Plio-Pleistocene cooling pulses.