A diverse shallow-water barnacle assemblage (Cirripedia: Sessilia) from the Oligocene of Southland, New Zealand

Abstract

An extraordinarily diverse assemblage of cirripedes is described from a shallow-water deposit of late Oligocene age from Cosy Dell farm, near Waimumu, Southland, New Zealand. It is unusual not only because it represents a rarely preserved intertidal to shallow subtidal fauna, but also because it contains at least nine species, five of which are new to science. The deposit contains the earliest known representatives of the genera Chamaesipho and Notobalanus and these are associated with abundant Verruca, an association that no longer occurs in present-day New Zealand waters. Although the remains are intimately associated with each other, the deposit is interpreted as a condensed heterogeneous taphocoenosis, with intertidal zone taxa (Verruca, Chamaesipho, Tetraclitella, Austrobalanus, Protelminius) mixing with upper subtidal species (Eolasma, Notobalanus, Tasmanobalanus) and pelagic cirripedes (Lepas).urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:74EECF88-AF4A-4EA7-BF7B-7487D0E35D5Durn:lsid: zoobank.org:act:8D81F5AD-3861-48A5-A54B-CD99621D2525urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: D0636517-BEE5-4D10-92A7-1EAD0F54C11Aurn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 79A2668E-2CAA-4CE6-AD4E-9035050DBD33urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 66B5BDFF-A3F4-4D7C-88E8-6ADB09A25471urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 7B508D69-6705-43CA-8C1E-0A98676B604A © 2014 © 2014 The Royal Society of New Zealand.