Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 May 2016
Twenty-four species of pteropods are described from the Pliocene Miyazaki Group in the Tsuma-Takanabe district, Miyazaki Prefecture, southwest Japan. Five are new: Clio shibatai new species, Cuvierina miyazakiensis new species, Cavolinia floridana japonica new subspecies, C. itoigawai new species, and C. vendryesiana hyugaensis new subspecies.
The pteropod fauna of the two lower members of the Miyazaki Group consists largely of extinct species. Whereas more than one-half of the species of the two upper members are extant.
Twelve species, Limacina sp., Clio hataii (Noda, 1972), C. shibatai new species, Cuvierina miyazakiensis new species, Bowdenatheca? sp., Diacria digitata subsp. indet., Cavolinia floridana japonica new subspecies, C. cf. C. gypsorum (Bellardi, 1873), C. itoigawai new species, C. mexicana (Collins, 1934), C. rattonei Simonelli, 1896, and C. vendryesiana hyugaensis new subspecies seem to serve as good index fossils for the Pliocene.