New Zealand Cambrian and Ordovician micromolluscs

Abstract

Micromolluscs from previously unreported collections of limestones in the early Palaeozoic Takaka Terrane of the western South Island of New Zealand belong to 20 taxa and are briefly described, figured and compared. They comprise pelagiellids, helcionelloids, bellerophontiform shells, gastropods, tryblidians, rostroconchs and pelecypods, and range from Drumian (middle Cambrian) to Sandbian (late Ordovician). Fourteen taxa are recorded from New Zealand for the first time, including: 'Pelagiella' sp.,? 'Yochelcionella' sp., 'Scenella' sp., open and advolute bellerophontiform species, dextral and sinistral gastropod species, an eopteriid, Ribeiria sp., and two groups of palaeotaxodont pelecypods.