The extinct limpet Lottia edmitchelli (Lipps, 1963) from the Southern California Bight, U.S.A.
Abstract
New specimens of the extinct limpet Lottia edmitchelli (Lipps, 1963) (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Lottidae) collected during a geologic survey of the northern-most California Channel Islands by United States Geological Survey personnel and examination of museum collections record previously unreported occurrences of this species on San Miguel, Santa Rosa and San Clemente Islands in the Southern California Bight. Previously this species was reported as Late Pleistocene to Holocene in age with occurrences on San Nicolas Island and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The single specimen identified from the California mainland (Palos Verdes Peninsula) of Holocene age is regarded as an atavism in the L. scabra population. Eliminating this single specimen results in L. edmitchelli being a strictly fossil species with occurrences reported here from San Clemente, San Miguel, San Nicolas, and Santa Rosa Islands in deposits of possibly Calabrian Stage of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (=early Pleistocene) to Middle Pleistocene.