Department of Integrative Biology

Seven species of land snails are reported from amber of late Oligocene (25 Ma) to late Eocene (40 Ma) age from the Dominican Republic: Strobilops (?Coelostrobilops) sp.; Subulina sp.; Spiraxis sp.; ?ferussaciid, genus and species indeterminate; Varicella sp.; helicinid, genus and species indeterminate; and a prosobranch land snail of indeterminate family. As far as determinable, all are within the modern geographic ranges of their taxonomic groups. The taxa are indicative of a tropical or paratropical climate. Strobilopsidae assignable to modern genera and subgenera may have been present in the American tropics at least as early as in western Europe.