Cretaceous rudists of Boeotia, Central Greece

Diverse rudist associations were widely distributed on the western margin o f the Pelagonian microcontinent, now exposed in Boeotia, during the late Cr etaceous, while only few caprotinid rudists and Radiolitidae have been foun d in marginal-marine and predominantly siliciclastic deposits of early Apti an to Cenomanian age. Sixty-one rudist species of Aptian to Maastrichtian age are described, with emphasis on the delineation of intraspecific variability. Horiopleura? jux i sp. nov. is described from Aptian conglomerates near Levadia. Praelapeiro usia? sp. nov. from Upper Turonian-?Coniacian limestones of the Ptoon Mount ains is provisionally left in open nomenclature. A revision of Vaccinites c ornuvaccinum (Bronn) is based on abundant material from Boeotia and several palaeontological collections, and includes the installation of a neotype. Rudists are particularly abundant in Santonian-Campanian limestones that we re deposited on top of karst-bauxites in southern Boeotia, and which overli e disconformably Triassic-Lower Cretaceous rocks in northern Boeotia. Vacci nites cornuvaccinum (Bronn) dominated among the Hippuritidae and thrived in protected subtidal lagoons as well as on landward slopes and probably on t he crests of current swept shoals. Different growth-strategies existed in e nvironments with various rates of water agitation and sediment accumulation . Less adaptable Plagioptychidae and Radiolitidae were associated with V. c ornuvaccinum in changing faunal compositions. Diversity patterns of Greek rudists are similar to those of other Mediterra nean regions and close affinities with faunas from Italy and the Dinarids a re evident. The Greek associations can be attributed to either African or c entral Mediterranean faunal provinces, but provincial separation faded duri ng periods of high sea-level.