HOKKAIDOCONCHIDAE, Kaim & Jenkins & Warén, 2008

Kaim, Andrzej, Jenkins, Robert G. & Warén, Anders, 2008, Provannid and provannid-like gastropods from the Late Cretaceous cold seeps of Hokkaido (Japan) and the fossil record of the Provannidae (Gastropoda: Abyssochrysoidea), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 154 (3), pp. 421-436 : 427-428

FAMILY HOKKAIDOCONCHIDAE FAM. NOV.

Type genus: Hokkaidoconcha gen. nov. (see below)

Included genera: Hokkaidoconcha and possibly also Humptulipsia described by Kiel (2008).

Description: Protoconch (when multispiral) ornamented with strong axial and weaker spiral ribs; apex not decollated. Teleoconch is of tall, cylindrical cerithioid shape, ornamented with axial and spiral ribs. Spiral ribs commonly wide and blunt. Early teleoconch whorls may be reminiscent of some cerithioids and cerithiopsids. Base is usually demarcated with angulation and prominent spiral rib.

Remarks: Hokkaidoconchidae differ from Protorculidae in having convex base; from Provannidae in having multispiral (non-decollate) protoconch and large, strongly elongated teleoconch; from Abyssochrysidae in having multispiral protoconch and more complex sculpture. We introduce this new family not as a result of any well-supported phylogeny, but merely as a convenient place to store the elongate, cerithioid-like fossil seep species until their phylogeny is better known from better preserved material. This should facilitate future research.

No modern species can be recognized as related to the species here referred to Hokkaidoconchidae . Possibly these species constitute the end of their lineage. However, this may be an error, owing to the fact that no complete aperture is known.

Stratigraphic range: Cenomanian to Campanian, Late Cretaceous (or possibly Middle Jurassic to Oligocene).