A latest Cretaceous gastropod fauna from the Jiaolai Basin of East Asia

Abstract A non-marine gastropod fauna from the continuous uppermost Campanian to Maastrichtian deposits of the Jiaolai Basin (eastern North China) was studied. Four species attributed to four genera and an undetermined species were described, including Truncatella jiaozhouensis sp. nov., ?Pomatiopsidae gen. et sp. indet., ?Hydrobia datangensis Yu, 1977, Valvata jiaolaiensis sp. nov., and Physa sp. Among them, two new species were established. The finding of ?Hydrobia datangensis is consistent with a Late Cretaceous age as previously inferred from the charophyte flora. Available sedimentological data of the gastropod-bearing beds combined with a gastropod taphonomical study suggest that all five species lived in shallow lakes, whereas ?Pomatiopsidae gen. et sp. indet. also inhabited floodplains. Furthermore, extant Truncatella species are either fully terrestrial or dwell amphibiously in the supralittoral zone in temperate to tropical regions, usually close to the water line, as well as near freshwater of river estuaries. Therefore, Truncatella jiaozhouensis sp. nov. supposedly has lived in the surrounding shorelines of the shallow lake.