Bathyal Pliocene-Early Pleistocene cirripedes (Crustacea, Thoracica) from the Rodrigues Ridge, Mascarene Plateau, Indian Ocean. Part 1

A large assemblage of thoracican cirripedes is described from the bathyal Upper Pliocene-Lower Pleistocene strata found adjacent to the Rodrigues Ridge, Mascarene Plateau (Indian Ocean), and a nearby site yielded a small number of living individuals. A total of 32 species is recorded, of which the following are new: Catherinum busselli sp. nov., Costatolepas buckeridgei gen. nov., sp. nov., Neoeolasma rodriguesensis gen. nov., sp. nov., Altiverruca capsa sp. nov., A. fusione sp. nov., Gibbosaverruca youngi sp. nov., Cristallinaverruca ankylosa sp. nov., Newmaniverruca multitabulatum sp. nov., Costatoverruca baxteri sp. nov. and Rostratoverruca darwini sp. nov. This fauna shows a high level of endemicity; six of the species recorded currently live in the southwest Pacific Ocean, in the region close to New Caledonia. The fauna provides evidence that significant extinction of benthonic cirripedes took place during the Pleistocene.