The bivalve genus Lopatinia (Family Cucullaeidae) from the Late Jurassic of New Zealand

Abstract

Lopatinia proclivia n. sp. is described from the Late Jurassic Murihiku Supergroup of New Zealand. It is known from a single North Island locality from a small section within Ohineruru Formation, Middle Heterian. Lopatinia has previously been recorded from the Late Jurassic of Greenland and the Cretaceous of Russia, but not from Australia, Antarctica, Japan, or Southeast Asia. The genus possibly migrated to the Jurassic Southern Ocean, during a period of high sea level, by way of the Gondic corridor linking the Tethys Sea with the Bay of Antarctica.

Keywords:

• Cretaceous
• Cucullaeidae
• Heterian
• Jurassic
• Kimmeridgian
• Lopatinia
• Murihiku Supergroup
• new taxa
• New Zealand
• paleontology