The upper Miocene gastropods of northwestern France, 3. Muricidae

In this paper we review the Muricidae of the Tortonian (Assemblage I of Van Dingenen et al., 2015) of northwestern France. Thirty species are recorded of which five are new: Paziella (Flexopteron) gallica nov. sp., Paziella (Flexopteron) gracilenta nov. sp., Attiliosa gallica nov. sp., Attiliosa pouweri nov. sp. and Ocinebrina houarti nov. sp. The muricid generic composition is moderately strongly thermophilic, with a considerable number of genera present that do not extend northwards to the latitude of NW France today, and more strongly thermophilic than the muricid fauna of the lower Pliocene Assemblage III of the same geographical area, suggesting some lowering of Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) between the late Miocene and early Pliocene.