Melanopsis from Al-Qarn, Jordan Valley (Gastropoda: Cerithioidea)

Klaus Bandel*, Naomi Sivan, Joseph Heller

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Fossil species of Melanopsis from a freshwater formation in the Jordan Valley (near Al-Qam) were investigated and the deposits containing these species are formally described as Al-Qarn Formation. Four species were found: Melanopsis buccinoldea OLIVIER, M. tchernovi HELLER & SIVAN, M. costata OLIVIER and M. aaronsohni BLANCKENHORN. Melanopsis costata was represented by two groups, "stepped" and "non-stepped", the latter differing in its lower figurativity index. Intermediates were found between M. buccinoidea and M. tchernovi; they may be hybrids. The Melanopsis assemblage bridges the faunal gap, in the Jordan Valley, between the 2 Ma lake of 'Erq el Ahmar on the one hand and the 0.8-1.7 Ma lake of 'Ubeidiya on the other. This suggests an early Pleistocene age of about 1.8 million years for the Al-Qam Formation.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)304-315
Number of pages12
JournalPalaontologische Zeitschrift
Volume81
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007

Keywords

  • Al-Qarn
  • Al-Qarn formation
  • Fresh water
  • Gastropods
  • Jordan Valley
  • Melanopsis
  • Systematics

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