Miocene Nautilus (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) from Taiwan, and a review of the Indo-Pacific fossil record of Nautilus

The fossil record of the cephalopod genus Nautilus has been obscured because a few influential taxonomists during the 20th Century decided that fossils similar to Nautilus were instead other genera. We now recognize fossils once classified as species of other genera as species of Nautilus. This includes fossils from Miocene rocks of Taiwan that were previously described as Kummelonautilus taiwanum but herein recognized instead as being the northernmost Neogene record of Nautilus in the Indo-Pacific region. The name is corrected to Nautilus taiwanus, and now known to occur in two formations in central Taiwan, the early Miocene Shihmentsun and early to middle Miocene Houdongkeng formations. Miocene fossils from Indonesia that were placed in other genera are now considered to represent Nautilus as they were originally assigned, in addition to several Miocene species from Australia, which provide the southernmost Neogene fossil record for the genus. Some of these Indo-Pacific fossils may represent the same species, but more specimens are needed to determine the amount of variability within these Neogene taxa.

Automated summary

The fossil record of the cephalopod genus Nautilus was incorrectly classified as other genera in the 20th Century by influential taxonomists. However, recent recognition and correction have revealed that these fossils actually belong to the Nautilus genus. Fossils from Taiwan and Indonesia represent the northernmost and southernmost Neogene records, respectively, for Nautilus in the Indo-Pacific region. It is important to gather more specimens to determine the variability within these Neogene taxa.