The South American fossil record of pulmonate gastropods counts with circa 100 species from the Cretaceous to the Pliocene. As this knowledge is largely scattered in the literature, we present here a checklist of these fossils, with relevant data about each species' type locality, stratum and age, and illustrating the type specimens whenever possible. Moreover, some taxonomical problems are highlighted in the hope of garnering attention for future research.
In the Late Cretaceous fossil record of Uruguay, three morphotypes of Bulimulus (Bulimulidae) have been recorded: Bulimulus klappenbachi and two undescribed ones. A geometric morphometric analysis was conducted to show whether the three morphotypes represent one or more species. With this aim, the three fossils were compared with three extant species of the same genus: Bulimulus bonariensis, B. guadalupensis and B. rushi. Variability within and among these three well-known extant species was tested to evaluate differences in the fossil morphotypes. Twenty-eight landmarks were selected (9 permanent landmarks and 19 semi-landmarks) and principal component analysis and canonical variate analysis were performed. Results indicate that only one of the unnamed morphotypes can be described as a new species and that the other is a variant of B. klappenbachi. The latter fossil species is described as Bulimulus frenguellii n. sp.
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