Magnolia Press, Zootaxa, 1(2680), p. 33, 2010
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2680.1.3
Full text: Unavailable
A new species of Archaeobalanidae barnacle is described from the late Miocene and early Pliocene of Santa Maria Island (Azores). Samples were collected primarily from outcrops at Malbusca and “Pedra-que-Pica”. Zullobalanus santamariaensis sp. nov. is endemic to the Azores archipelago and until the discovery of this material, the genus was known only from the Southern Hemisphere. For such a long-range distribution we assume a combination of planktotrophic larval development, sea-surface oceanic currents and transport by cetaceans. This study endorses the elevation of the subgenus Zullobalanus to generic level.