Upper Barremian-lower Aptian scleractinian corals of central Europe (Schrattenkalk Fm., Helvetic Zone, Austria, Germany, Switzerland) Author Baron-Szabo, Rosemarie Christine 0000-0002-6439-5334 rbsz2020@yahoo.com text Zootaxa 2021 2021-04-15 4960 1 1 199 journal article 7240 10.11646/zootaxa.4960.1.1 656c9ec3-1707-4760-a799-52b7e925985e 1175-5326 4693785 A4AB7420-69FF-4E2D-ACAE-1BBA9AE2A166 Columnocoenia falkenbergensis n. sp. v1997 Columnocoenia cf. ksiazkiewiczi ksiazkiewiczi MORYCOWA, 1971 : BARON- SZABO, p. 58, Pl. 4, Fig. 3. v2014 Columnocoenia ksiazkiewiczi MORYCOWA, 1964 : BARON- SZABO, p. 30, Pl. 17, Figs. 3–4 . 2020 Eocolumastrea sp.: KOŁODZIEJ & BUCUR, p. 8, Fig. 7H . Holotypus . ZSH H-KU–793, designated here. Derivatio nominis . Refers to the location from which the material was collected (Falkenberg, Bavaria , Germany ). Locus typicus. Falkenberg, Bavaria , Germany . Stratum typicum. Schrattenkalk Formation, Upper Schrattenkalk, lower Aptian. Diagnosis. Columnocoenia having 24+s4 septa (often 26–28, up to around 40 in largest corallites) and corallite diameter ranging between 3–4.5 mm ; in areas of intense budding, corallite diameters range between 1–2 mm having septa of 20 or less. Distance of corallite centers is 3–6.5 mm . Description. Massive, plocoid colony; corallites are subcircular to elongate in outline. Costosepta arranged radially in corallites of up to around 2 mm in diameter, becoming bilaterally arranged in larger corallites. Three complete cycles with the beginning of a fourth cycle are present in corallites of 3 mm in diameter or larger. Comparison. The new species differs from other Lower Cretaceous species in having larger corallites (C. ksiazkiewiczi MORYCOWA, 1964: 2 –3.5 mm; C. bucovinensis MORYCOWA, 1971 : 1.2–2.3 mm ; C. elachia BARON- SZABO, 2002: 0.9–1.3 mm ). From most Upper Cretaceous species C. falkenbergensis differs in having smaller corallites ( C. lamberti ALLOITEAU, 1957: 6 –8.5 mm; C. oppenheimi BEAUVAIS, 1982: 4–6 mm). From the Upper Cretaceous C. hofergrabensis ( BEAUVAIS, 1982 ) , the new species differs in having a greater number of septa (always more than 3 cycles of septa in C. falkenbergensis ; a maximum of 3 cycles of septa in C. hofergrabensis ). Material. ZSH H-KU–793 (Falkenberg, Germany ) ( holotype ); additional specimen ( paratype ): SNSB-BSPG– 1997 V 85 (BARON- SZABO coll.) (Schrattenkalk Fm., Upper Schrattenkalk, Kürental area, Germany , lower Aptian) (for locality coordinates see APPENDIX TABLE 5). Distribution. Lower Aptian of southern Germany (Upper Schrattenkalk, Bavaria ), middle Aptian of Romania . Remarks. MORYCOWA & MARCOPOULOU- DIACANTONI (2002, p. 47–48) already suggested that the Schrattenkalk material assigned to ksiazkiewiczi differed from MORYCOWA’ S species in having larger corallites.