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A red spider in the constellation Sagittarius
by Spektrum der Wissenschaft
Prehistoric snail with baby on board
12.11.2025
Translation: machine translated
Fossilised freshwater snails from the early Pleistocene have been found in Taiwan - including baby snails inside them. The discovery sheds light on the ecology of viviparous, prehistoric gastropods.
A Taiwanese research team has recovered several mollusc fossils from the Tananwan Formation, a sedimentary formation in north-west Taiwan. According to the scientists, this is the first discovery of freshwater molluscs from the early Pleistocene in this region. The experts identified well-preserved gastropods (snails) and a species of mussel in a one-metre-thick layer of mudstone. The most common of these was Sinotaia quadrata - a freshwater snail with a gill and operculum from the family Viviparidae, i.e. the viviparous swamp snails.
Among the 37 S. quadrata specimens analysed, the scientists discovered two broken shells containing several juveniles. Fossils of young still in the shells of female Viviparidae are extremely rare - this is the second discovery worldwide. According to the researchers, it could provide important information on the ecology and reproduction of the prehistoric marsh snails.
The Viviparidae are asexual, not hermaphrodites like many other snail species. The fertilised eggs develop in a part of the female ovary. A mother usually carries several young in different stages of development. The oldest animal is then born individually.
«The study represents a significant advance in the understanding of Taiwan's freshwater palaeontology. While over 99 per cent of the island's fossil mollusc finds are marine, the authors document the first well-described early Pleistocene freshwater fossil group from the Tananwan Formation», Chun-Hsiang Chang of the National Museum of Natural Science in Taiwan told Science Media Center Taiwan.
The study is the first of its kind in Taiwan.
Spectrum of Science
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Original article on Spektrum.de
Header image: © Press photo for Hsu, C.-H. et al.: Fossil freshwater mollusks from the Early Pleistocene (Calabrian) of northern Taiwan. Geodiversitas 47, 2025, fig. 5A (detail)
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