2026 in paleomalacology

Further information: 2026 in paleontology

This list records new taxa of fossil molluscs that were announced or described in 2026. Other peer-reviewed publications on discoveries related to paleomalacology which occurred in that year are also detailed here.

Ammonites

Ammonite research

• Neige & van Tiel (2026) study the evolutionary history of the family Dactylioceratidae, and interpret the pattern of changes of their taxonomic and morphological diversity as consistent with background extinction, possibly linked to species specialization making them vulnerable to such extinction. ^[1]

Other cephalopods

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Country	Notes	Images
Uluciala [2]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Sugiura et al.	Late Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian)		United States ( South Dakota)	A member of Decabrachia of uncertain affinities, with a morphology intermediate between those of members of Sepiida and Sepiolida. The type species is U. rotundata.

Other cephalopod research

• Evidence of impact of distribution of mineral deposits in chambered shells on buoyancy and maneuverability of orthocone cephalopods is presented by Peterman, Landman & Ciampaglio (2026). ^[3]
• Patarroyo et al. (2026) describe new fossil material of Aturia peruviana from the Paleogene strata of the San Jacinto Formation (Colombia), and interpret their morphology as supporting the classification of Aturia colombiana as a junior synonym of A. peruviana. ^[4]

Bivalves

Bivalve research

• Pérez, Mosquera & Cuitiño (2026) report the discovery of fossil material of Limopsis insolita from the Miocene Gaiman Formation (Argentina), extending its known geographic distribution northwards and representing the first unambiguous record of a member of the genus Limopsis in deeper-water settings in the region. ^[5]
• Knight (2026) studies the composition of two assemblages of Miocene (Tortonian) bivalves from S'Algar (Menorca, Spain), interpreted as originating from a middle ramp environment that changed through time as a result of changes in the frequency and directionality of storms and currents. ^[6]

Gastropods

Name	Novelty	Status	Authors	Age	Type locality	Location	Notes	Images
Acrostemma anatolica [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Turkey	A member of the family Cylichnidae.
Acteon antipinguis [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Acteon .
Acteon gutta [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Romania	A species of Acteon.
Acteon romanicus [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Romania	A species of Acteon.
Acteon trifasciatus [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Acteon.
Acteon viciani [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Hungary	A species of Acteon.
Acteon vindobonensis [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Acteon.
Bittium biskupici [8]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser & Landau	Miocene	Baden Formation	Austria	A species of Bittium .
Bittium castori [8]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser & Landau	Miocene	Dej Formation	Romania	A species of Bittium.
Bittium pallgergelyi [8]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser & Landau	Miocene	Baden Formation	Austria	A species of Bittium.
Bittium parvapyramis [8]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser & Landau	Miocene		Ukraine	A species of Bittium.
Bittium polluxi [8]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser & Landau	Miocene	Dej Formation	Romania	A species of Bittium.
Bulla? elalbanii [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Ukraine	Possibly a species of Bulla .
Campanile metaisi [9]	Sp. nov	Valid	Merle & Pacaud in Merle et al.	Eocene	Lakhra Formation	Pakistan	A species of Campanile .
Campanistylus [9]	Gen. et sp. nov	Valid	Merle & Pacaud in Merle et al.	Eocene	Lakhra Formation	Pakistan	A member of the family Campanilidae. The type species is C. lakhraensis.
Chelidonura piseraii [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Poland	A species of Chelidonura .
Cylichna caudex [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Cylichna .
Cylichna dolium [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Czech Republic	A species of Cylichna.
Cylichna eschnerae [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Czech Republic	A species of Cylichna.
Cylichna miosimplex [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Cylichna.
Cylichna steiningeri [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Cylichna.
Cylichna straussi [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Cylichna.
Pseudavena bella [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Czech Republic	A member of Heterobranchia of uncertain affinities.
Pyrunculus microromanicus [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Romania	A member of the family Retusidae.
Pyrunculus szobiensis [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Hungary	A member of the family Retusidae.
Pyrunculus zuschini [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A member of the family Retusidae.
Retusa mystica [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Romania	A species of Retusa .
Rictaxis austriacus [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Rictaxis .
Rictaxis siedli [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Rictaxis.
Rictaxis ursulae [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Rictaxis.
Ringicula daisyae [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Romania	A species of Ringicula .
Roxania bomba [7]	Nom. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Roxania ; a replacement name for Sabatia callifera helvetica Berger (1949).
Roxania oviformis [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Roxania.
Roxania pila [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Romania	A species of Roxania.
Sabatia quasimodoi [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Czech Republic	A species of Sabatia .
Scaphander alatissimus [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Scaphander .
Scaphander catena [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Romania	A species of Scaphander.
Scaphander perforatus [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Austria	A species of Scaphander.
Scaphander schollnbergeri [7]	Sp. nov	Valid	Harzhauser, Landau & Malaquias	Miocene		Czech Republic	A species of Scaphander.

Gastropod research

• Li, Xiao & Yu (2026) report the discovery of new fossil material of Coptocheilus electrothauma (originally named Schistoloma electrothauma) from the Cretaceous amber from Myanmar, and revise the diagnostic traits of this species. ^[10]

General research

• Bellosi et al. (2026) revise the age and distribution of the molluscan assemblages from Patagonia living at the time of the Chattian-Langhian marine incursions into southern South America, and provide calibrated dating of the youngest fauna dominated by tropical species. ^[11]
• DeVries (2026) studies the composition of late Pliocene and Pleistocene marine molluscan assemblages from northwestern Peru, and reports evidence of a shift from a cool-water to warm-water fauna during the Pleistocene that might have been linked to uplift of the coastal plain and/or altered equatorial circulation. ^[12]

References

1. Neige, P.; van Tiel, T. (2026). "Background extinction due to species specialization? Insights from a high-resolution Jurassic ammonoid case study (Dactylioceratidae)". Paleobiology: 1–17. doi: 10.1017/pab.2025.10086 .
2. Sugiura, K.; Ikegami, S.; Takeda, Y.; Mutterlose, J.; Derin, M. O.; Kubota, A.; Nishida, H.; Tainaka, K.; Harada, T.; Landman, N. H.; Iba, Y. (2026). "The oldest sepioid cephalopod from the Cretaceous discovered by Digital fossil-mining with zero-shot learning AI". Communications Biology. doi: 10.1038/s42003-026-09519-9 . PMID   41545472.
3. Peterman, D. J.; Landman, N.; Ciampaglio, C. (2026). "Exploring the influence of cameral deposits on the stability, orientation, and maneuverability of orthocone cephalopods". Paleobiology: 1–21. doi: 10.1017/pab.2025.10085 .
4. Patarroyo, P.; Casallas, W.; Benavides-Cabra, C. D.; Herrera, J. M. (2026). "Records of Aturia peruviana (Nautilida, Cephalopoda) from the San Jacinto Formation (upper Eocene to lower Oligocene), Ovejas (Sucre, Colombia)". Publicación Electrónica de la Asociación Paleontológica Argentina. 26 (1): 37–46. doi: 10.5710/PEAPA.20.10.2025.549 .
5. Pérez, D. E.; Mosquera, A. A.; Cuitiño, J. I. (2026). "The genus Limopsis Sasso (Bivalvia: Limopsidae) in the Gaiman Formation (Early Miocene, Patagonia Argentina)". Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen. doi:10.1127/njgpa/1297.
6. Knight, R. I. (2026). "Bivalves of the Menorcan late Tortonian shelf: faunal and taphonomic signals of an upwelling, seafloor current- and storm-dominated dynamic palaeoenvironment". Journal of Molluscan Studies. 92 (1) eyaf017. doi:10.1093/mollus/eyaf017.
7. Harzhauser, M.; Landau, B. M.; Malaquias, M. A. E. (2025). "Marine shelled Heterobranchia in part (Gastropoda) of the Miocene Central Paratethys Sea". Zootaxa. 5742 (1): 1–150. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5742.1.1.
8. Harzhauser, M.; Landau, B. M. (2026). "New Bittiinae (Gastropoda, Cerithiidae) from the Middle Miocene of the Central Paratethys Sea". Annals of the Natural History Museum Vienna. 127: 1–12. doi: 10.3897/anhmw.170289 .
9. Merle, D.; Pacaud, J.-M.; Lashari, R. A.; Brohi, I. A.; Solangi, S. H. (2026). "New campanilids (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from the Ranikot Group (upper Paleocene/early Eocene, Sindh, Pakistan)". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 25 (1): 1–15. doi: 10.5852/cr-palevol2026v25a1 .
10. Li, X.; Xiao, C.; Yu, T. (2026). "New data of Coptocheilus electrothauma (Gastropoda: Cyclophoroidea: Pupinidae) from Mid-Cretaceous Kachin Amber of northern Myanmar". Palaeontologia Electronica. 29 (1) 29.1.a1. doi: 10.26879/1606 .
11. Bellosi, E. S.; del Río, C.; McArthur, J.; Millar, I. L. (2026). "Evolution of staggered Oligocene-Miocene transgressions and molluskan faunas in eastern Patagonian basins". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 113575. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2026.113575.
12. DeVries, T. J. (2026). "Extraprovincial cold-water marine mollusks: Evidence bearing on ocean circulation patterns off northwestern Peru during the late Pliocene and Pleistocene". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 113540. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113540.