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Records of the Australian Museum (2017) Vol. 69 
Other Atlantic islands: Madeira, Selvagem Grande, Gran 
Canaria. Janthina typica has been recorded from three 
other eastern Atlantic islands (Fig. 14): at Sao Vicente on 
the main island of Madeira, at La Esfinge on Gran Canaria, 
Canary Islands, and at Selvagem Grande, a small island 
between the Canary Islands and Madeira (Krejci-Graf et 
al. , 1958: 336; Meco etal., 2015, 2016). Mayer (1864a, b: 
63) rather casually recorded Janthina hartungi from Sao 
Vicente, on the north coast of Madeira. Mayer’s (1864a, 
b: 63) text about J. hartungi concluded with the statement 
that of the six specimens he had available, three typical 
ones originated from Feiteirinhas (i.e., Ponta das Salinas), 
one from Ponta dos Matos, another without spiral folds 
(“Reifen”) from Pinheiros (all localities on Santa Maria 
Island) and another showing only traces of spiral folds 
from Sao Vicente, Madeira. He also noted that traces of 
purple coloration were visible on the specimen from Sao 
Vicente. The writer is not aware of any other mention of 
fossil Janthina specimens from Madeira. The description of 
weak spiral folds suggests the possibility that the specimen 
from Madeira is J. chavani , or even possibly J. krejcii sp. 
nov. Unfortunately, like all other early fossils, the location of 
any of the specimens recorded by Mayer is unknown, other 
than the poor modelling clay impression reported below from 
Ponta dos Matos, Santa Maria Island, which is possibly the 
basis of Mayer’s record from that locality. 
Miocene fossils were first reported from the very small 
Selvagem Grande Island (2x1.7 km) by Bohm (1898). He 
reported three species of neritid gastropods and a euloxid 
bivalve, apparently representing a well-preserved aragonitic 
fauna. He did not record Janthina. Joksimowitsch (1911: fig. 
6) provided a map of Selvagem Grande showing a single 
small locality for Miocene marine fossils near the centre 
of the bay on the east coast. Gagel (1911: fig. 1) provided a 
very similar map, showing “Lager der miocanen Fossilien” in 
the same locality. Gagel (1911: pi. 11) also showed a profile 
of Selvagem Grande viewed from the east, with geological 
formations indicated. His unit H, “Lager der miocanen 
Fossilien (+ 98 m)”, overlies the main volcanic rocks and 
underlies thin units of (in ascending order) “Kalksand mit 
Foraminiferen”, “Aschentuffe”, further tuffs, and further thin 
basalt flows. Again, macrofossils are shown as exposed in 
only a small area at the top of basalt cliffs near the centre of 
the profile. Joksimowitsch (1911: fig. 7) showed an almost 
identically labelled profile of Selvagem Grande, identifying 
unit H as “Fossilienfundort”. The map and profile were 
provided to both Joksimowitsch and Gagel by Dr A. C. de 
Noronha, a medical doctor in Funchal. Gagel (1911: 409) 
provided a brief list of fossils from this locality present in the 
museum in Funchal (with spelling corrected here): Littorina 
neritoides, Gibbula schmitzi, Janthina hartungi, Pleuroploca 
(Fasciolaria ) sp.?, Purpura sismondae, Nerita martiniana, 
N. selvagensis, N. connectens, Cerithium rugosum and 
Tectarius cf. nodulosus. Several of these species had been 
named only slightly earlier by Joksimowitsch (1911). Apart 
from this, Gagel (1911) described only volcanic rocks. 
The description of the Selvagem Islands by Joksimowitsch 
(1911: 52-95, pis 1-3) was much more concerned with 
fossils than with igneous rocks, assigning the fossils to die 
zweite Mediterranstufe (the second Mediterranean Stage), 
equivalent to the current Langhian and early Serravallian 
Stages, middle Miocene; M. Harzhauser, Naturhistorisches 
Museum Wien, pers. comm. 24 Sep 2014). Harzhauser 
et al. (2003: 325-326) described the long succession of 
miscorrelations that led to the wide usage of the stage names 
I und II Mediterranstufe in Europe. Joksimowitsch (1911) 
provided excellent illustrations of large Spondylus specimens, 
suggesting that most of his fossils from Selvagem Grande 
were calcitic, unlike the aragonitic ones reported by Bohm 
(1898). Joksimowitsch (1911: 74, 94) recorded “ Janthina 
hartungi Mayer” from Selvagem Grande, mentioning that 
Mayer (1864) had recorded this species also from Santa Maria 
and from Sao Vicente, Madeira. Modem age assignments 
have not been provided for the localities at Sao Vicente and 
Selvagem Grande, to the writer’s knowledge. Judging from 
the succession on Santa Maria Island, both localities likely 
are Zanclean in age. It would be very helpful for Janthina 
phylogeny to examine specimens of Janthina from Sao 
Vicente and Selvagem Grande, to identify them and determine 
their ages. 
Recently, Meco et al. (2015: 61, figs Appendix 4A-B; 
2016) recorded and illustrated a bedding plane exposing 
abundant specimens of Janthina typica at La Esfinge, just 
north of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, on the east coast of 
La Isleta, at the north-eastern tip of Gran Canaria, Canary 
Islands. The enlarged view of specimens in outcrop (Meco 
et al., 2015: fig. Appendix 4A) shows a relatively low spire 
and spiral folds present on the sutural ramp. Specimens from 
this locality have also been loaned to the writer by Joaquin 
Meco (ULPGC), confirming their identification as J. typica 
(Figs 25N, Q-R, T). Nearby 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dates on an underlying 
lava flow provide a maximum age for the Janthina specimens 
of 4.20±0.18 Ma, late in Zanclean time (Meco etal., 2015). 
The succession in New Zealand. The interpretation here 
differs a little from those published earlier by Beu & 
Maxwell (1990: 292, pi. 37a-b), Beu & Darragh (2001: 25, 
27) and Beu & Raine (2009: BM292). The New Zealand 
Plio-Pleistocene time scale was summarized by Beu et al. in 
Cooper (2004: 197-228), and is shown here in Figs. 16, 17 
and 22. The most recently updated international time scale 
(Gradstein et al., 2012) did not change ages in the Neogene 
part of the column, and the latest re-calibration (Raine et 
al, 2015) merely lowered the base of the Waipipian Stage 
to 3.7 rather than 3.6 Ma, with no other changes. In New 
Zealand (Figs 15-16), Janthina typica (=Turbo postulatus 
Bartrum, 1919) was first reported from Kaawa Creek, a 
richly diverse shallow-water locality of Opoitian (Zanclean) 
age on the west coast of the North Island south of Waikato 
Heads, southwest Auckland. Most of the fauna at this locality 
was described by Laws (1936a, b, 1940a). Finlay (1931) 
pointed out that “Turbo” postulatus and the “Australian” 
species Heligmope dennanti Tate, 1893 constitute one 
species of Janthina. Janthina typica is moderately common 
and unusually well-preserved at Kaawa Creek. The Kaawa 
Formation is well dated by Mollusca, Foraminifera and 
other fossils (Beu & Maxwell, 1990: 271), but is an isolated 
occurrence of marine rocks that does not provide an age 
context for dating the evolution of Janthina. This is also 
true of many other isolated occurrences in New Zealand, as 
in most other regions. 
Although it is uncommon in most areas of New Zealand 
other than at Kaawa Creek, Janthina typica occurs rarely 
in Kapitean (Messinian) rocks near East Cape and at a few 
other Kapitean localities in the Gisborne district (Figs 15A). 
It also occurs very widely, scattered in Opoitian (Zanclean) 
