A new species of Sepia (Cephalopoda, Coleoidea) from the Miocene of northwest Germany: a contribution to sepiid palaeobiogeography

摘要

The first record of a Middle Miocene (Reinbekian, Twistringen Beds) sepiid from the North Sea Basin at Nordlohne (Lower Saxony, Germany) significantly extends the palaeobiogeographical range of extinct sepiid cuttlefish. Based on the specific morphology of the present cuttlebone, we erect a new species of Sepia, S. fabianschwankei, which has some affinities with Miocene-Pliocene representatives of the genus from the Mediterranean and Central Paratethys. On the basis of index gastropod species and benthic foraminifera, the age is determined to be late Langhian on the international chronostratigraphical scale. The new record clearly demonstrates the presence of sepiids at higher latitudes during the Miocene and simultaneously is the northernmost example of a fossil sepiid to date.