Fossil abalone of Europe and their relationships with modern Haliotis (Haliotidae, Gastropoda): A multivariate analysis

Morphometrics of a large dataset of 153 fossil and 226 Recent specimens of abalone (genus Haliotis). All fossil shells are from Europe and range Oligocene-Pleistocene. Recent shells are from the Mediterranean, the eastern Atlantic and the Red Sea. Measures include shell length (L), shell length from apex to L midline (l1), shell width (W), shell width from apex to W midline (w1), shell height (H) and number of tremata, separating total number (NT) from open tremata (OT).

Methods
We collected a quantitative dataset based on 153 fossil and 226 Recent specimens of abalone (genus Haliotis), for a total number of 379 meaured shells (not casts, nor molds). Measures were collected by one of the authors (MF) either directly on specimens, or from images in the literature. The studied material is housed in public institutions or in private collections.

Extant taxa included in the dataset are H. tuberculata tuberculata Linnaeus, 1758, H. t. coccinea Reeve, 1846, H. t. fernandesi Owen and Afonso, 2012, H. stomatiaeformis Reeve, 1846, H. tuberculata “Dakar”, H. geigeri Owen, 2014, H. pustulata Reeve, 1846 and H. marmorata Linnaeus, 1758. Fossil taxa are H. benoisti Cossmann, 1896, H. volhynica Eichwald, 1829, H. lamellosoides Sacco, 1897, H. bertinii Forli et al., 2003, H. plioetrusca sp. nov., H. stalennuyi Owen and Berschauer, 2017, H. ovata Michelotti, 1847, H. monilifera Michelotti, 1847 and H. torrei Ruggieri, 1990.

The dataset includes a large number of new findings from the Pliocene (Piacenzian) of southern Tuscany (Italy), ranging from juveniles to fully adult shells, found in two outcrops in an area informally known as “Terre Rosse” (meaning “red lands”), in the province of Siena. Other European fossil shells range Oligocene-Pleistocene in age. Recent specimens were from Northeast Atlantic (western Atlantic from Normandy, France, to western Morocco, 30°); Mediterranean (Mediterranean Sea); West Africa (central and southwestern Atlantic, from 30° N, including Canary Islands, to Cape Town, Republic of South Africa); Red Sea (North of Djibouti).

Figured specimens examined in this study are deposited in the following institutions: British Museum of Natural History (BMNH), London (UK); Natural History Museum of Rotterdam (NHMR), Rotterdam (Netherlands); Natural History Museum of Wien (NHMW), Wien (Austria); National Museum of New Zealand (NMNZ), Wellington (New Zealand); Muséum d’Histoire naturelle de Bordeaux (MHNBx), Bordeaux (France); Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN), Paris (France); Museo di Storia Naturale, Università di Firenze (MSNF), Firenze (Italy); Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano, (MSNM), Milano (Italy); Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali (MRSN), Torino (Italy); Museo di Zoologia, Università di Bologna (MZB), Bologna (Italy).

Specimens temporarily hosted in private collections are: CLZ, Alain Cluzaud (France); JLC, Jean-François Lesport (France); RMQ, Robert Marquet (Belgium); BDA, Bruno dell’Angelo, (Italy); CBC, Cesare Bogi, (Italy); FCC, Fabio Ciappelli, MCC, (Italy); Massimo Cresti, MFC, (Italy); Maurizio Forli, (Italy); MRC, Massimo Rocca (Italy); MBB, Mauro M. Brunetti (Spain).

Others collections are: BOC, Buzz Owen, California (USA); DDC, Dwayne Dinucci, California (USA); FFC, Franck Frydman, Paris (France); FRC, Ramiro Fladeiro, Valhascos (Portugal); PRC, Peter Ryall (Austria); RKC, Robert Kershaw, NSW (Australia); LSL, Linnean Society, London (UK).

Suprageneric systematics follows the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS, 2024). Abbreviation: H = height, from apex to horizontal plane; L = maximum length; l1 = length from apex to L midline; W = maximum width; w1 = width from apex to W midline; NT = total number of tremata from the contact of the whorl with the posterior labial margin, to the end of row in anterior part; OT = number of open tremata; Spcm/spcms = specimen/specimens. Size is expressed in millimetres throughout the dataset.