Cirripedes (Crustacea, Thoracica) from the Plio-Pleistocene of Sicily (Italy) and a review of the history of Mediterranean Cainozoic cirripedes

The extensive fauna of fossil cirripedes from Sicily originally described by Giuseppe Seguenza (1873, 1876) is reviewed, both by synoptic revision of the original material, destroyed in 1908, and from recently collected specimens. A total fauna of 41 taxa is identified from the upper Piacenzian to Calabrian of Sicily and many are revised taxonomically. The fauna includes three calanticids, two lepadids, five scalpellids, six verrucids and 25 balanomorphs. Two species are new, Solidobalanus digeronimoi Gale sp. nov. and Gibbosaverruca milazzensis Gale sp. nov. Scillaelepas carinata (Philippi, 1835) is shown to be the senior synonym of species of Scillaelepas Seguenza, 1876 recorded from the present-day Atlantic, and Aurivillialepas ornata (Seguenza, 1876) is a senior synonym of the extant A. calycula (Aurivillius, 1898). The names Rostratoverruca romettensis (Seguenza, 1873), Metaverruca zanclea (Seguenza, 1873) and M. dilatata (Seguenza, 1873) are demonstrated to be senior synonyms of living species generally referred to as Metaverruca imbricata (Gruvel, 1900), M. recta (Aurivillius, 1898) and M. radiata (Gruvel, 1901), respectively. The fossil Sicilian fauna largely represents benthic taxa which lived in the upper bathyal zone, with some taxa transported from shallower environments and minor epipelagic elements. The Cainozoic fossil cirripede fauna known from the Mediterranean Basin is reviewed, and the effects on the fauna of closure of the eastern Mediterranean, the Messinian Salinity Crisis, and middle Pleistocene events are evaluated. A major extinction around the end of the Calabrian (early Pleistocene) resulted in the loss of 50 per cent of the Mediterranean cirripede fauna.