A new Paleocene species of Aporrhaidae (Gastropoda) from eastern Hokkaido, Japan

We describe one new aporrhaid species, Kangilioptera inouei sp. nov., from the Paleocene Katsuhira Formation in Urahoro Town, eastern Hokkaido, Japan. This is the first record of a Cenozoic Aporrhaidae (Anchurinae) gastropod in Japan. Occurrences of Kangilioptera are confined to Paleocene deposits in western Greenland and Japan. With the addition of the bivalve Conchocele, the new find requires a reappraisal of the marine connection through the Bering Strait between Japan and Greenland during the Paleocene.