At the origin of cowries

PUBLICATION — Bakayeva S., Hryniewicz K., Nützel A., Skupien P., and Kaim A. 2026. At the dawn of higher caenogastropods – the importance of colombellinid gastropods in deciphering the origin of Tonnoidea and Cypraeidae. Geological Magazine, 163(e15): 1–36. doi.org/10.1017/S0016756826100557

Colombellinidae was a family of small marine snails that inhabited warm shallow seas during the Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous. This extinct group was revised based on all known fossils. The family included only two genera. Additionally, a new species from Bulgaria was described. Colombellinid shells share some features with modern cowries, suggesting that they may represent an early branch in the evolution of these well-known marine snails, but they may also be related to predatory sea snails such as tritons and tun shells.