The Lower Pliocene marine gastropods of Santa Maria Island, Azores: Taxonomy and palaeobiogeographic implications Author Sacchetti, Claudia 0000-0002-3225-3139 claudiasacc@icloud.com Author Landau, Bernard 0000-0002-7768-8494 bernardmlandau@gmail.com Author Ávila, Sérgio P. 0000-0002-3225-3139 claudiasacc@icloud.com text Zootaxa 2023 2023-05-24 5295 1 1 150 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5295.1.1 journal article 53396 10.11646/zootaxa.5295.1.1 82286fdc-a858-447c-9980-da2e8985d19c 1175-5326 7965273 F3A52660-70B8-439F-A7A0-F45ADC975EA5 Pyrgostylus cf. abreui (Peñas & Rolán 2000) Plate 6 K 1 -K 2 cf. * Turbonilla abreui Peñas & Rolán 2000: 70 , figs. 40-45. cf. Turbonilla abreui Peñas & Rolán, 2000 — Peñas et al . 2000: 186 , figs. 27A-B. cf. Pyrgostylus abreui (Peñas & Rolán, 2000) — Landau & Micali 2021: 314 , pl. 121, figs. 1-2. Santa Maria material examined. Maximum height 6.0 mm, width 3.0 mm. DBUA-F 471-2 (3), Ponta do Castelo, Santa Maria Island, Azores , Touril Complex, Lower Pliocene. Discussion. The specimens at hand are all too incomplete to offer a description and all lack the protoconch, which is of paramount importance in the classification of pyramidellids. Nevertheless, the specimens can be attributed to the genus Pyrgostylus Monterosato, 1884 , based on their very strong axial sculpture with an occasional varix, and the outer lip also thickened by varix. They are most like P. abreui (Peñas & Rolán, 2000) , an extant species endemic to the island of Madeira, in their relatively slender form and very strong axial sculpture. This species was recently also recorded from the Upper Pliocene western Mediterranean of the Estepona Basin, Spain ( Landau & Micali 2021 ). In view of the incompleteness of the Azorean fossil specimens, we leave them in open nomenclature. Distribution. Lower Pliocene: Atlantic, Santa Maria Island, Azores (this paper).