Turriseiffelus yaoi, Dumitrica & Zügel, 2003

Dumitrica, Paulian & Zügel, Peter, 2003, Lower Tithonian mono- and dicyrtid Nassellaria (Radiolaria) from the Solnhofen area (southern Germany), Geodiversitas 25 (1), pp. 5-72 : 20-22

Turriseiffelus yaoi n. sp. ( Fig. 13 )

HOLOTYPE. — MNHN, bât. de Géologie, No. Gg 2001/2091 ( Fig. 13 ).

ETYMOLOGY. — The species is dedicated to Prof. Akira Yao (Osaka City University, Japan) who provided a residue from his famous IN 7 sample in which the species was found.

TYPE LOCALITY. — Right side of the Kiso river, east of Unuma, Kagamihara City , Gifu Prefecture, inner zone of Southwest Japan (35°24’1’’N, 136°57’41’’E) ( Ichikawa & Yao 1976).

TYPE HORIZON. — Sample IN 7, manganese-carbonate nodule embedded in red siliceous mudstone which grades upsection into grey siliceous mudstone.

OCCURRENCE. — Unuma echinatus Assemblage-zone ( Yao et al. 1980), Unitary Association Zone 3 dated as early-middle Bajocian ( Yao & Baumgartner 1995).

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — One specimen from the type horizon.

DIMENSIONS ( IN µM). — Total length of skeleton 320, length of apical horn 135, of cephalis 60, of feet 125- 135.

DESCRIPTION

Test composed of a bell-shaped cephalis, a long apical horn and two feet. Initial skeleton with MB, a long, thick apical spine and primary lateral spines, short dorsal and ventral spines, and arches AL, AD, LD, and LV. Cephalic wall thin, reticulate, consisting of intercrossing bars forming triangular or quadrangular meshes of variable size. Apical spine extended into a long horn, and primary lateral spines into long feet, all of them three-bladed. Blades with a longitudinal row of rounded quadrangular pores. One blade of apical horn aligned with arch AD, the other two with arches AL and the external blade of the feet. One of the lateral blades of feet aligned with arch LD, the other with arch LV. Feet straight, diverging from one another at an angle of about 40°. Thorax incomplete, short, similar to the cephalis in structure, and represented by only its proximal part formed by a short downward prolongation of the wall of the cephalis and extended between the latter and the lateral blades of the feet.

REMARKS

Turriseiffelus yaoi n. gen., n. sp. resembles T. invalidus n. gen., n. sp. from which it differs by the presence of arches LV instead of arches LL, and by missing the distal bunch of spines of the feet.

Figures

FIG. 13. — Turriseiffelus yaoi n. gen., n. sp., holotype, dorsal view. Scale bar: 50 µm.