Enallhelia octasepta, Löser & Werner & Darga, 2023

Loeser, Hannes, Werner, Winfried & Darga, Robert, 2023, Middle Cenomanian coral fauna from the Rosssteinalmen (Northern Calcareous Alps, Bavaria, Southern Germany) - a revised and extended version, Zitteliana 97, pp. 89-147 : 89

Enallhelia octasepta sp. nov.

Plate 12: figs 7, 8

Derivatio nominis.

The new species has a remarkable octameral symmetry of septa.

Holotype.

LFU 8336SG015215#1 with one thin section.

Locus typicus.

Germany, Bavaria, community of Lenggries, Roßsteinalmen.

Stratum typicum.

Cretaceous, middle Cenomanian, Branderfleck Fm.

Paratype.

LFU 8336SG015215#2 with one thin section.

Material.

Holotype and paratype.

Diagnosis.

Enallhelia with an octameral septal symmetry, two septal cycles, a small corallite diameter of 1.1-1.2 mm and a larger corallite diameter of 1.4 -1.7 mm.

Description.

Plocoid colony growing in the form of branches which show corallites only on one face. Corallite outline slightly elliptical. Symmetry of septa radial and regularly octameral, two septal cycles. Septa of the first cycle are thicker and longer than septa of the second cycle. Septa compact, with occasional auriculae at their inner margins. Pali absent. Costae present, non-confluent. Columella styliform. Endotheca consists of thin tabulae. Wall compact, probably septothecal. Coenosteum broad.

Remarks.

The genus has, to date, a stratigraphical range from the Oxfordian to the lower Albian. It is more common in the Upper Jurassic than the Lower Cretaceous. The present two specimens constitute the youngest occurrence of the genus.

Relationship.

Enallhelia has generally a hexameral septal symmetry. There are no formally established species with an octameral septal symmetry as in the present material.

Dimensions.

(LFU 8336SG015215#1).

Figures

Plate 12. (1 - 3) Aulastraeoporidae indet. 2, LFU 8336 SG 015115 # 1. 1. Transversal thin section. 2. Transversal thin section, detail. 3. Longitudinal thin section. (4 - 6) Kozaniastrea sp., BSPG 2016 XXII 2. 4. Transversal thin section. 5. Transversal thin section, detail. 6. Longitudinal thin section. (7 - 8) Enallhelia octasepta sp. nov. 7. Holotype LFU 8336 SG 015215 # 1, Transversal thin section. 8. Paratype LFU 8336 SG 015215 # 2, Longitudinal thin section. Scale bars: 1 mm.