Extirpation of the currently endangered mollusc Patella ferruginea through the Mediterranean during the Pleistocene: A matter of human harvesting or environmental factors?

Abstract

Human harvesting has been considered as the main cause of depletion and even extinction for many littoral species in the Mediterranean through the Pleistocene to Holocene. One of the most endangered marine species nowadays in this area is the Mediterranean Ribbed Limpet (Patella ferruginea), whose reduction in its distributional area and population number has been traditionally associated with human pressure. However, according to the fossil records and the information available, it seems that the environmental factors could be responsible for its extirpation of some areas in the Mediterranean during the Quaternary such as the Balearic archipelago.