Aporrhais dingdenensis, a new species from the Miocene of the North Sea Basin (Gastropoda, Caenogastropoda, Aporrhaidae)

Thirteen species of the gastropod family Aporrhaidae can be distinguished in the European Oligocene and Neogene. All are briefly described here and a number of them is illustrated. Up to now, the most common North Sea Basin Miocene species of Aporrhais was known as Aporrhais (Ap.) alata (Eichwald, 1830). This taxon, however, is based on specimens from the Badenian (Middle Miocene) of Poland, which are now classified with the Miocene to Recent Aporrhais (Ap.) pespelecani (L., 1758) or Aporrhais (Ap.) uttingeriana (Risso, 1826) (Baluk, 1995). This change in identification requires a new name for the North Sea Basin form, herein described as Aporrhais (Ap.) dingdenensis spec. nov. This is another example of the development of a highly endemic Neogene gastropod fauna in the North Sea Basin, without much contact with the Atlantic in the Southwest or the Paratethys to the East.