Continental mollusks from the Olmos Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Coahuila, Mexico

Abstract

We describe freshwater mollusks from the Olmos Formation, Campanian, Upper Cretaceous. The results were obtained from several specimens of mollusks, identified with two families of gastropods: Viviparidae (Viviparus sp.) and Physidae (Mesolanistes sp.), and three families of bivalves: Limidae (Pseudolimea sp.), Unionidae (Proparreysia sp., Unio sp., Unionelloides? sp., Plesielliptio sp., and Ostreidae (Ostrea sp.). Based on this taxonomic recognition, along with the associated fossil flora, it was possible to get a preliminary of the environment where the mollusks lived. The interpretation of the paleoenvironment resemble freshwater bodies adjacent to an estuarine system. Furthermore, the mixing of specimens of brackish and freshwater environments is indicative of a transport of some of these mollusks. The general view of the paleoenvironment where the mollusks inhabited is that of a transitional freshwater-estuarine in the Olmos Formation during Campanian times.