ABSTRACT
The first descriptions of Central American fossil invertebrates were published in the second half of the 19th century, when the geological exploration of the isthmus area began [1-3]. Later, a certain number of descriptions appeared, about particular localities, individual fossil finds, and also, occasionally, about complete fossil faunas (see references in [4, 5]). Systematically, a preferential treatment was given to mollusks; stratigraphically, to the Miocene, and regionally to Panama and Costa Rica, with other Central American countries remained relatively ignored by invertebrate paleontologists. Reasons are manifold: the former impassability of wide parts of the area, the often deep weathering of host rock and fossil remains by a tropical, humid climate, a lack of scientific infrastructure, and, last but not least, the preference for protist fossils as biostratigraphic tools. The regional focus on southern Central America has increased by the activities of the Panama Paleontology Project (PPP), managed by the Smithsonian Institution (e.g., [6]) and of the Escuela Centroamericana de Geología, founded in 1970 at San José, Costa Rica.
