Pliensbachian corals from the Western Tethys
Author
Vasseur, Raphaël
Université de Lorraine, CNRS, lab. GeoRessources, UMR 7359, BP 70239, F- 54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy cedex (France)
raphaelvasseur@wanadoo.fr
Author
Lathuilière, Bernard
Université de Lorraine, CNRS, lab. GeoRessources, UMR 7359, BP 70239, F- 54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy cedex (France)
bernard.lathuiliere@univ-lorraine.fr
text
Geodiversitas
2021
2021-11-23
43
22
1187
1291
journal article
10.5252/geodiversitas2021v43a22
1638-9395
5764379
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6D1643AD-66A5-4678-9397-CE08E610D641
Margarosmilia
? sp.
(
Fig. 38
)
Margarosmilia
? sp. 1 –
Vasseur 2018: 236-237
, fig. 3.54.
STUDIED SAMPLES. —
Two
specimens
: CPUN DA2905E1-2, CPUN DA2905E2-1. GEOGRAPHIC AND STRATIGRAPHIC RANGES. —
Pliensbachian
of
Dades Valley
(
High Atlas
of
Morocco
).
DESCRIPTION
Phaceloid colony with huge subcircular calices often distorted by intracalicular budding. Radial elements are free, straight or curved, compact costosepta except in the most inner part of septa where septal trabeculae dissociate sometimes in the close elongated fossa but never produce a real columella. Lateral faces of septa hold pennula-like granules that alternate from one side to the other of one single septum, in accordance with the description of the genus
Margarosmilia
in
Cuif (1975)
. A wavy mid-septal line seems to appear even if the poor preservation of the specimens does not allow a clear confirmation. Endotheca made of quite abundant thin vesicular dissepiments. Synapticulae not observed. An epicostal epitheca
s.l.
wraps the corallites.
Calicular diameter:
12 to 23 mm
– Distance between calices centers:
25 to 40 mm
– Septal density: 4 to 6 per
2 mm
.
REMARKS
We place with doubt these specimens under the genus
Margarosmilia
because the poor preservation of the specimens does not allow to confirm the presence of a mid-septal line (even if some ghosts of these structures seem to exist) and because of the subcompact nature of the very inner edge of septa; however, this last character appears for us compatible with the structure described in
Cuif (1975)
.