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Glaphyrosphaera, a new dinoflagellate genus from the Maastrichtian of Denmark
| Schioler, P. and Wilson, G.J. | |
| 1994 | |
| Grana 33: 139-145 | |
| Glaphyrosphaera, a new dinoflagellate genus from the Maastrichtian of Denmark |
Schioler, P. and Wilson, G.J., 1994; Glaphyrosphaera, a new dinoflagellate genus from the Maastrichtian of Denmark. Grana 33: 139-145 Abstract: The Maastrichtian chalks of Denmark and the Danish North Sea contain a new gonyaulacoid dinoflagellate cyst, Glaphyrosphaera glabra gen. et sp. nov. The new genus is holocavate and laterally compressed with precingular archeopyle, type P (3"") and is unique in having a funnelshaped process which connects the peri- and endophragm in the sulcal areas. The new genus is currently monotypic and restricted to the Maastrichtian Stage. Several new dinoflagellate taxa were reported by the second author during a palynological study of Danish Maastrichtian chalk sections (Wilson 1971, 1974); one was described informally as "Glaphyrosphaera" (type species "Glaphyrosphaera glabra" Wilson, 1974). A recent palynological study of core samples of Maastrichtian-Danian chalk from eight Danish offshore wells (Schioler & Wilson 1993) and one onshore well has confirmed the presence of Glaphyrosphaera glabra gen. et sp. nov. in the Maastrichtian interval. The taxon has been restudied, and significant new details are added to the original description. Specimens from the new Danish subsurface material have been compared with Wilson"s specimens from Danish outcrop sections, and the identity has been confirmed. A formal description of Glaphyrosphaera glabra gen. et sp. nov. is given.