Heterogyra murchisoni ( d’Archiac & Haime, 1853 )

Baron-Szabo, Rosemarie C., 2008, Dendrophylliina, Caryophylliina, Fungiina, Microsolenina, and Stylinina, Zootaxa 1952, pp. 1-244 : 132-133

Heterogyra murchisoni ( d’Archiac & Haime, 1853)

Text-Fig. 27

v*1853 Pachyseris Murchisoni n. sp.: d’Archiac & Haime, p. 194, pl. 12, figs 9a, 9b.

1880 Pachyseris Murchisoni, d’Archiac & Haime : Duncan, p. 46, pl. 14, figs 3, 4.

?1880 Cyathoseris orientalis, Duncan : Duncan, p. 47, pl. 6, figs 7–10.

1902 Oroseris undata n. sp.: Wanner, p. 104, pl. 14, fig. 13.

v1927 Pachyseris Murchisoni J. Haime sp. 1851 : Felix, pars 35, p. 368 (older synonmys cited therein).

1996 Comoseris undata (Wanner, 1902) : Schuster, Appendix list.

Dimensions. d=2.5–6.5 mm; c-c (series)= 5–10 mm, in areas of intense budding the distance might be smaller; s/mm=5–8/2.

Description. Thamnasterioid-meandroid colony; corallites often arranged in calicinal series that are up to 30 mm long; individual corallites irregularly scattered over colony; septa arranged in 2–3 size orders, in areas of intense budding septa of a fourth size order may be present.

Text-Fig. 27 Heterogyra murchisoni ( d’Archiac & Haime, 1853) . A, holotype BMNH R.29143, Eocene of Pakistan, upper surface of colony; B, sketch of upper surface of colony as provided by Duncan (1880, figured as type material of Cyathoseris orientalis ), Paleocene of Pakistan; C, sketch of upper surface of colony in Wanner (1902, figured as Oroseris undata Wanner, 1902 ), Upper Danian of Egypt, (size calculated based on the description by Wanner 1902, according to which 32 septa are found in 1 cm); scale bar: 10 mm.

mella. However, in the illustration provided by Wanner subpapillose columellar structures seem to be present, thus, in addition to all other characters that are present regarding corallite integration, septal and wall developments, as well as axial structures of the corallite series, it closely agrees with the genus Heterogyra .

Because the collines present in the specimen that Wanner (1902) described as Oroseris undata , are mainly steep and tectiform, this specimen seems to differ from the type specimen of Heterogyra murchisoni ( d’Archiac & Haime, 1853) and the material decribed by Duncan (1880). Both of the latter have calicinal series that are rather flat and separated by mainly tholiform collines. But as shown in Figure 27, both types of collines are present in all of the specimens. Therefore, they are considered to be within the range of variation of the same species.

Type locality of species. Eocene of Pakistan (probably near Hyderabad) .

Distribution. Paleocene-Eocene of Pakistan, Upper Danian of Egypt, Eocene of Bosnia, France, and Spain, Miocene of Borneo and Pakistan.