New Discovery of Oligocene Gastropod Opercula from the Yehucheng Formation in Northwestern China

Fourteen species of nonmarine gastropod opercula are found to be in high abundance in the Oligocene upper member of the Yehucheng Formation,Lanzhou Basin,northwest China.They are attributed to two families,namely Bithyniidae and Assimineidae,and four genera,namely Pseudemmericia,Bithynia,Mirolaminatus and Assiminea.Among them,three species are new,and they are Bithynia paramonolithic sp.nov.,B.obliquus sp.nov.,and B.disregularis sp.nov.Some of these species were first discovered in Paleogene strata of the vast Northwest China and can be compared with the opercula recovered from the Paleogene deposits in East and South China.It is inferred from the paleontology and sediment associations that the climate was slightly humid and the fauna probably inhabited the fresh or brackish water of a shallow lake in the Lanzhou Basin during the late early Oligocene period.