Sansonia italica Raffi & Taviani, 1985, junior synonym of Mareleptopoma minor (Almera & Bofill, 1898). The presence of the family Pickworthiidae Iredale, 1917 in the early Pliocene of Iberia

In this paper we draw attention to the previously unnoticed synonymy between Sansonia italica Raffi & Taviani, 1985 and the senior synonym, Mareleptopoma minor (Almera & Bofill, 1898). A short history of the Almera & Bofill collection is given and the collection is located in the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona, Spain. The similarity between a group of Neogene Mareleptopoma species including, M. minor, M. badenicum Janssen, 2004, M. kenneyi (Ladd, 1966), and an as yet undescribed French Oligocene species is discussed. This group is probably Indo-Pacific in origin and migrated eastwards to the Paratethys and then to the Mediterranean. Mareleptopoma minor is an example of a Mediterranean Pliocene Tropical Survivor, which today occurs in the Mauritanian-Senegalese molluscan faunal province, following the southwards shift seen in many Early Pliocene Iberian gastropods.