The Volutid generaAthletaandLyria(Mollusca: Gastropoda) in the New Zealand Cenozoic

New Zealand Cenozoic records of the warm‐water volutid genera Athleta and Lyria are reviewed. Six species of Athleta in two species‐groups are recognised: A. lata (probably Waipawan or Mangaorapan, Early Eocene), Athleta n. sp. A (Mangaorapan (?), late Porangan or early Bortonian, Middle Eocene); A. necopinata (Bortonian), A. marwicki n. sp. (Bortonian), A. taikoensis n. sp. (Mangaorapan to late Porangan or earliest Bortonian), and A. mimica n. sp. (Bortonian). Most species have a short recorded stratigraphic range and are therefore potentially useful for zonation. Athleta is not known after the Bortonian in New Zealand, and may have become locally extinct in response to a cooling episode. Volutospina (Athleta) huttoni pseudorarispina is synonymised with V. (Athleta) huttoni (both Altonian, Early Miocene). V. huttoni and other large Neogene volutes currently assigned to Mauira are transferred to Alcithoe. Athleta (Athleta) wangerrip (Paleocene, Victoria) is transferred to the subgenus Ternivoluta...