DOI: 10.5061/dryad.8cz8w9h16
title: Data from: Pterotheca (Gastropoda) from the Telychian (Silurian) Xiushan formation of South China: Taxonomy, paleoecology and paleogeography

description: Pterotheca Salter, 1853 is an unusual but readily identifiable
 bellerophontoid gastropod that occurs in the Upper Ordovician through to
 the Llandovery of the lower Silurian in many parts of North America and
 Europe. Recently, a large collection of Pterotheca was obtained for the
 first time from the Xiushan Formation of middle Telychian (Llandovery) age
 in the Hunan Province of South China. This is also the first record of the
 genus in the low-latitude peri-Gondwanan region. Based on the collection,
 two new species of Pterotheca, i.e. P. yongshunensis n. sp. and P.
 xiushanensis n. sp., were identified and described herein. The morphologic
 analysis suggests that close relatives of these new species may be
 Pterotheca species from the Telychian of Scotland. The new species show
 continuous variations of marginal apex to submarginal apex, implying that
 one of the Pterotheca species may be ancestral to the Devonian Aspidotheca
 Spriesterbach, 1919. The Pterotheca species from South China possibly
 lived a slowly crawling life on a soft substrate, feeding on algae and/or
 detritus, and were adapted to a shallow-water setting with substantial
 terrigenous input. Given that all the known Silurian Pterotheca species
 occurred in siliciclastic settings and most of which represent sea-level
 fall and lowstand periods, we demonstrate that geographic isolation and
 enhanced ocean circulation during the early Silurian regression
 facilitated the speciation of Pterotheca globally, the connection of sea
 pathway during the Rhuddanian transgression after the end-Ordovician
 glaciation could have led to the primary dispersal of Silurian Pterotheca.
description: All the <em>Pterotheca </em>specimens from South
 China are measured by Image J and/or CorelDRAW 2021® on photographs,
 noting that the skewed specimens which are possibly related taphonomic
 deformation are measured on retro-deformed images using CorelDRAW 2021®,
 where the shell is symmetrical along the median axis (marked with * after
 Specimen No. in the file).
description: # ***Pterotheca*** (Gastropoda) from the Telychian (Silurian) Xiushan
 Formation of South China: Taxonomy, paleoecology and paleogeography
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8cz8w9h16](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8cz8w9h16) ## Description of the data and file structure One Excel file of measurements of nearly complete *Pterotheca yongshunensis* n. sp. and *P. xiushanensis* n. sp. (Gastropoda) from the Silurian Xiushan Formation of the Wanping section of South China. Note the skewed specimens are measured on retro-deformed images using CorelDRAW 2021®, where the shell is symmetrical along the median axis (marked with * after the Specimen no.). The structural terms and dimensional parameters used in this study can be found in our accepted manuscript "Li, W.J., Fang, X., Song, J.Q., and Zhang, Y.D., in press, *Pterotheca* (Gastropoda) from the Telychian (Silurian) Xiushan Formation of South China: taxonomy, paleoecology and paleogeography: Journal of Paleontology", and also in the reference "Ebbestad, J.O.R., and Gutiérrez-Marco, J.C., 2017, First occurrence of *Pterotheca* (Gastropoda) from the Silurian (Aeronian) of Spain: Geobios, v. 50, p. 97–104.". Note some parameters can not be measured because of the preservation of specimens, which are marked with "-" in the file.  Update on 2025.04.22： We have updated the species name *Pterotheca lata* from the previous version to *Pterotheca xiushanensis*. This update is to maintain consistency with the manuscript.