| Summary: | The pulmonate gastropod genus <i>Ellobium</i> has its greatest diversity in the modern Indo-West Pacific Region (IWP). Its origin, however, is traced to the Early Oligocene of the Northeastern Atlantic and the Western Tethys Region. Two <i>Ellobium</i> species are documented from the Rupelian of France and Italy and a new species is recorded from the Chattian of Hungary: <i>Ellobium kerwaensis</i> nov. sp. The first records in the IWP are known from the Early Miocene, suggesting an eastward range expansion of the genus around the Oligocene/Miocene boundary, when <i>Ellobium</i> became extinct in the European seas. Extant <i>Ellobium</i> species are bound to habitats above the high tide line in salt marshes and mangroves. Comparable environmental requirements are expected for the fossil congeners. <i>Ellobium</i> may derive from Eocene ancestors, such as the Bartonian <i>Eoellobium heberti</i> from the Northeastern Atlantic. <i>Eoellobium</i> is introduced in this paper as a new genus.
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