Exploring the limits of morphospace: Ontogeny and ecology of late Viséan ammonoids from the Tafilalt, Morocco
Author
Klug, Christian
Author
Baets, Kenneth De
Author
Korn, Dieter
text
Acta Palaeontologica Polonica
2016
2016-01-18
61
1
1
14
http://dx.doi.org/10.4202/app.00220.2015
journal article
10.4202/app.00220.2015
1732-2421
10626349
Calygirtyoceras darkaouaense
Korn, Klug, and Mapes, 1999
Fig. 5
.
Holotype
:
GPIT 1851-87
;
Korn et al. 1999
: pl. 1: 7.
Type locality
:
12 km
southeast of Dar Kaoua, southeast of Erfoud, eastern Anti-Atlas,
Morocco
.
Type horizon
: Early late Viséan (
Entogonites
assemblage).
Material
.—
6 specimens
:
three juvenile
conchs in
PIMUZ 31509
,
PIMUZ 31516
,
PIMUZ 31519
; two additional juveniles in
PIMUZ 31508
; an incomplete adult specimen with septal crowding in
PIMUZ 31513
.
Emended diagnosis
(modified after
Korn et al. 1999
).—
Calygirtyoceras
with a juvenile cadiconic conch (dm
5–10 mm
; ww/dm 0.60–0.71), a transitional discoidal, platyconic preadult conch shape and a large, thinly discoidal, oxyconic adult conch (dm
100–150 cm
; ww/dm 0.30–0.40). Umbilicus very wide in juvenile growth stages (uw/dm 0.08; dm
5–10 mm
) and very narrow near adulthood (uw/ dm 0.10–0.15; dm>
50 mm
). Whorl expansion rate very low in juvenile whorls (dm <
10 mm
) and increasing to almost 3 at>
50 mm
diameter. Adult ornamentation with fine, crenulated growth lines with biconvex and slightly rursiradiate course. Suture line with low median saddle (median saddle width/height ratio 0.30), broadly rounded ventrolateral saddle, and narrow external lobe (external lobe width/height ratio 0.55).
Description
.—PIMUZ 31516 (
Fig. 5B
) is a cadiconic juvenile with a thinly to thickly globular, very evolute conch. The whorl cross section is strongly depressed with a hardly vaulted venter; at the thickest part of the flanks, 12–15 small nodes are developed at a diameter below
10 mm
per half whorl. In the subsequent ontogenetic stage, the venter becomes more and more vaulted and rounded. At a whorl height of about
30 mm
(PIMUZ 31513), the cross section becomes subtriangular with gently rounded flanks. PIMUZ 31513 is a fragment of an adult conch (septal crowding at dm ca.
110 mm
). At this stage, the conch is extremely discoidal and involute (
Table 3
). In this specimen, the external lobe is incompletely visible but V-shaped with a high ventrolateral saddle as present in the type-material. The V-shaped adventive lobe is inclined dorsally with a convex ventral flank.
Remarks
.—In the original species diagnosis by
Korn et al. (1999)
, the ontogenetic changes were described in a somewhat misleading way: in the same article, we (
Korn et al. 1999
: p. 354) had stated that the “Umbilicus [is] very narrow in early growth stages (uw/dm = 0.08 at
20–30 mm
dm) and slightly opening during ontogeny (stages (uw/dm = 0.10 to 0.12 at
40–60 mm
dm).” When measuring the umbilical width throughout the entire post-hatching ontogeny, a rather constant reduction of the uw/dm ratio from 0.62 to 0.14 was measured. Also, the latest growth stage was unknown previously.
Stratigraphic and geographic range
.—Early late Viséan, so far only known from the Tafilalt (
Morocco
).