This Fossil Friday we have the shell of an olive snail called Oliva gatunensis.

This specimen was found by PCP PIRE PI Gary Morgan in the lower Gatún Formation and is Late Miocene in age (11-9 mya). This little snail would have been found traversing and sometimes plowing through the sands of the Pacific and the Caribbean near the shores of Panama. Oliva gatunensis was carnivorous and would sometimes use its foot to pull its prey, including other molluscs and crustaceans, under the sediment.

To find out more about this snail, check out the Fossils of Panama page on it here.