GAULT GASTROPODA
 

Gault gastropods are rich in variety and numbers but because of their delicate nature, most specimens collected from the surface of the clay or from the beach and foreshore are incomplete. Fine specimens can be found in the clay but require careful extraction and preparation.

A limited number of typical Gault gastropod species are figured here. A number of the identifications were based on a MS (currently in prep. for publication) by Steve Tracey, University of Greenwich.

Nummocalcar fittoni (Römer) ranges through almost the whole of the formation and belongs to a group of nacreous vetigastropods that probably died out in the late Cretaceous. An ancient family (but with living representatives), the Pleurotomariidae, is exemplified in the Gault by Leptomaria pricei Cox, and Pleurotomaria plicata (J. Sowerby). The Aporrhaidae, a family which reached its maximum in the Cretaceous and is characterised by finger-like extensions of the aperture, is well represented. This family includes the long-ranging Anchura carinata (Mantell), Tessarolax retusus (J. de C. Sowerby) and Perissoptera parkinsoni (Mantell). The present-day whelks have their counterparts in "Fusus" clementinus d'Orbigny and "Buccinum" gaultinum d'Orbigny, the moon-snails in Gyrodes gentii (J. Sowerby), all of which occur sporadically through the Gault. Other typical Gault gastropods are the cerithioids Bathraspira tecta (d'Orbigny) and Metacerithium trimonile (Michelin), the epitoniid Confusiscala dupiniana (d'Orbigny) the trochids Semisolarium moniliferum (Michelin) and Semisolarium conoideum (J. Sowerby), and the opisthobranchs Ringinella lacryma d'Orbigny and Ringinella inflata (J. de C. Sowerby). The little Bellerophina minuta (J. Sowerby), originally described as a cephalopod, has since been referred to a group of pelagic prosobranchs, the Heteropoda. (Amended after the [Reference] Geol Survey Introduction).

Reference: 1966 Geology of the country around Canterbury and Folkestone Geological Survey of Great Britain (section on Palaeontology of the Gault)

 
Vetigastropod - Nummocalcar fittoni (Römer)
 
Aporrhaid - Tessarolax retusus (J. de C. Sowerby)
Aporrhaid - Anchura carinata (Mantell) incomplete specimen on block
   
Naticid - Gyrodes gentii (J. Sowerby)
Semisolarium moniliferum (Michelin)
 
Semisolarium conoideum (J. Sowerby)
Opistobranch - Ringinella lacryma Orbigny
   
Pseudoclaviscala clementina (Michelin)
Rissoina sp.
 
Prosobranch - Bellerophina minuta (J. Sowerby)