Malacological records from the Upper Pleistocene at Portelet (Jersey, Channel Islands): comparisons with western and central Europe

New sampling of Mollusca from Portelet, Jersey, Channel Islands, has allowed characterization of local conditions during deposition of the pre-Kesselt Weichselian loess. The Portelet fauna also allows a reassessment of the distribution of the Columella fauna in western Europe. Comparison of the Portelet fauna with those of eastern France and central Europe shows a decrease of the number of species present in this far-western locality which appears to be either a result of the operation of a typical ‘peninsula’ effect comparable to that seen in other zoological groups or a consequence of their occurrence in a marginal part of the European loess belt.