Plio-Pleistocene Peronella 
195 
Key to fossil species of Peronella from Western 
Australia 
1. Test large, reaching more than 50 mm in length 
.2 
Test small, reaching less than 50 mm in length 
.3 
2. Test thin, with petals open distally .. P. lesueuri 
Test thick, with petals closed distally .... P. rida 
3. Petals extending about two-thirds of the 
distance to ambitus.P. ova 
Petals extending about one-half of the distance 
to ambitus.P. orbicularis 
Peronella ova sp. nov. 
Figure 2 
Peronella orbicularis (Leske, 1778): Foster and Philip 
1980: 156. 
Peronella platymodes (Tate, 1893): Kendrick 1985: 
figure 3C. 
Peronella sp.: McNamara 1988: 158, figure 12.5 
Material Examined 
Holotype 
WAM 94.854 from the Late Pliocene Roe 
Calcarenite, Roe Plains, Madura district. Western 
Australia; pit 0.5 km north of Hampton Microwave 
Repeater Tower. Collected by V.A. Ryland and 
G.W. Kendrick, 1980. 
Paratypes 
All from the Roe Calcarenite: WAM 82.2103- 
82.2121, 82.2255, 82.2273-2283, 94.853, 94.855, 
94.856 from same locality and horizon as the 
holotype; WAM 82.2095-6, spoil heaps at base of 
Hampton Microwave Repeater Station; WAM 
82.2135-2143, 82.2241-2248, 94.850, 94.848, 94.849, 
94.851, 94.852, 94.854, pit 1.5 km north of Hampton 
Microwave Repeater Station; WAM 85.2025, 
89.754, pit 2.5 km north of Hampton Microwave 
Repeater Station; WAM 82.2151 (4 specimens) from 
doline of Nurina Cave N.46, about 5.5 km 
southwest of Madura Cave; 85.1876 (3 specimens) 
from Main Roads Department quarry, 16 km south 
of Madura Roadhouse. 
Etymology 
From the Latin ovum, egg, alluding to the 
occurrence of the species in the Roe Calcarenite, 
and to the ovate outline of the test. 
Diagnosis 
Test low, thick; petals relatively long, extending 
about two-thirds of the way to ambitus. Peristome 
Figure 2 Peronella ova sp. nov. from the Late Pliocene Roe Calcarenite, Roe Plains, Western Australia; A, WAM 
82.2096; B, WAM 82.2105; C, WAM 82.2113; D, WAM 82.2280; E, WAM 94.853; F, WAM 94.854, holotype; G, 
WAM 82.2118; H, WAM 82.2163; I, WAM 82.2120; J, WAM 94.849; all xl .5, except E, which is x4. 
