Back
Gochteodinia scytala
From Fensome et al., 2019:
Gochteodinia scytala Duxbury, 2018, p.181–182, pl.10, figs.17–20. Holotype: Duxbury, 2018, pl.10, figs.18,20. NIA. Age: early Valanginian.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original description Duxbury, 2018
Plate 10, figures 17–20
Gochteodinia villosa (Vozzhennikova 1967) Norris 1978 –
HEILMANN-CLAUSEN 1987, pl. 2, fig. 11 only.
Holotype: Plate 10, Figures 18, 20.
Paratype: Plate 10, Figure 19.
Type Locality: Well 20/01-8Z at 7381.20 ft (conventional core
chip), lower Valanginian. Holotype: E.F. B32.4. Paratype: E.F. J23.1.
Derivation of Name: From the Latin scytala, staff, cudgel – in reference to the surface ornament.
Diagnosis: A large, smooth and fairly thick-walled species, elongate but unusually broad for the genus and with a long, tapering, distally-rounded apical horn. Fifty or more evenly spaced, long, simple and distally blunt to rarely acuminate spines cover the main body and extend onto the apical horn. The archeopyle involves the displacement of two intercalary plates.
Dimensions: Holotype: Body length – 111 μm. Width – 63 μm.
Spines – 10 μm.
Paratype: Length – 116 μm. Width – 71 μm. Spines – 15 μm.
Overall: Length – 157 (126) 106 μm. Width – 78 (69) 58 μm.
Spines: 18 (13) 10 μm.
Specimens Measured: 32.
Remarks: Gochteodinia scytala n. sp. is a very distinctive species, recogniseable even when fragmented. It differs from most other species of this genus in its unusual size (similar to Gochteodinia parvispina n. sp.) and in possessing well-developed but simple spines. This species and G. parvispina n. sp. are also unusually rotund species. Heilmann-Clausen (1987) included Gochteodinia scytala n. sp. in Gochteodinia villosa (Vozzhennikova 1967) Norris 1978, referring to it as “Subspecies indeterminate”. In the current study, the morphology of this taxon is considered sufficiently distinctive for it to be included as a separate species.
Occurrences of this species are restricted to a short interval within the lower Valanginian so that in individual wells, its occurrence is often restricted to a single sample.
Gochteodinia scytala Duxbury, 2018, p.181–182, pl.10, figs.17–20. Holotype: Duxbury, 2018, pl.10, figs.18,20. NIA. Age: early Valanginian.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original description Duxbury, 2018
Plate 10, figures 17–20
Gochteodinia villosa (Vozzhennikova 1967) Norris 1978 –
HEILMANN-CLAUSEN 1987, pl. 2, fig. 11 only.
Holotype: Plate 10, Figures 18, 20.
Paratype: Plate 10, Figure 19.
Type Locality: Well 20/01-8Z at 7381.20 ft (conventional core
chip), lower Valanginian. Holotype: E.F. B32.4. Paratype: E.F. J23.1.
Derivation of Name: From the Latin scytala, staff, cudgel – in reference to the surface ornament.
Diagnosis: A large, smooth and fairly thick-walled species, elongate but unusually broad for the genus and with a long, tapering, distally-rounded apical horn. Fifty or more evenly spaced, long, simple and distally blunt to rarely acuminate spines cover the main body and extend onto the apical horn. The archeopyle involves the displacement of two intercalary plates.
Dimensions: Holotype: Body length – 111 μm. Width – 63 μm.
Spines – 10 μm.
Paratype: Length – 116 μm. Width – 71 μm. Spines – 15 μm.
Overall: Length – 157 (126) 106 μm. Width – 78 (69) 58 μm.
Spines: 18 (13) 10 μm.
Specimens Measured: 32.
Remarks: Gochteodinia scytala n. sp. is a very distinctive species, recogniseable even when fragmented. It differs from most other species of this genus in its unusual size (similar to Gochteodinia parvispina n. sp.) and in possessing well-developed but simple spines. This species and G. parvispina n. sp. are also unusually rotund species. Heilmann-Clausen (1987) included Gochteodinia scytala n. sp. in Gochteodinia villosa (Vozzhennikova 1967) Norris 1978, referring to it as “Subspecies indeterminate”. In the current study, the morphology of this taxon is considered sufficiently distinctive for it to be included as a separate species.
Occurrences of this species are restricted to a short interval within the lower Valanginian so that in individual wells, its occurrence is often restricted to a single sample.