Bellatara Strand, 1928

Islamoğğlu, Yeşşim, Dominio, Stefano & Kowalke, Thorsten, 2011, Early Eocene Caenogastropods (Mollusca, Gastropoda) from Haymana-Polatl Basin, Central Anatolia (Turkey): taxonomy and palaeoecology, Geodiversitas 33 (2), pp. 303-330 : 316

Genus Bellatara Strand, 1928

TYPE SPECIES. — Bellardia janus Mayer-Eymar, 1870 (= Bellatara paleochroma ( Bayan, 1870)) .

PALAEOGEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION. — Italy (Monte Postale): Eocene (late Ypresian).

REMARKS

Species of the genus Bellatara are represented in the Eocene ( Wenz 1938), the Oligocene of Europe (from Greece; Harzhauser 2004) and Indian Ocean Province (Baluchistan; Vredenburg 1925).It was included in the family Cerithiidae by Wenz (1938). However, there are some suspicions whether this genus belongs to this family or not ( Harzhauser 2004). Bellatara has conical cerithioid shell sometimes with curved spire and almost flat whorls.The most characteristic prominent feature is the thick and projecting spines in the body whorl, a character held in common with members of the family Cerithiidae .Unfortunately, the protoconch morphology of Bellatara is still unknown. Thus, its relationship to cerithiids remains enigmatic.