Granulina (Gastropoda, Marginellidae) from the Pliocene of Málaga (southern Spain) with descriptions of four new species

The Lower Pliocene shelf deposits that crop out near Estepona (Málaga) have yielded nine species of the marginellid genus Granulina Jousseaume, 1888, six of which [G. iberica n. sp., G. detruncata n. sp., G. malacitana n. sp., G.? longa n. sp., G. clandestine (Brocchi, 1814), and Granulina sp. sensu Gofas, 1992] are extinct, while G. marginata (Bivona, 1832), G. boucheti Gofas, 1992 and G. guttula La Perna, 1999 still occur in the Mediterranean to this day. Differences in species composition in the Pliocene of Italy are thought to be due mainly to the typically restricted distribution and endemicity of Granulina and of marginellids in general. Affinities between Pliocene representatives of Granulina from the Mediterranean and Recent West African species confirm the ‘warm-temperate’ to ‘warm’ character of this genus. Subsequent to the Middle-Late Pliocene and Pleistocene cooling events, the species with warmer affinity mostly went extinct, the genus evolved a more temperate character and diversity amongst shallow-water species decreased.