Back
Cyclonephelium variabile

Cyclonephelium variabile Cookson and Eisenack, 1967

Now Systematophora?. Originally Cyclonephelium, subsequently Systematophora?.
Holotype: Cookson and Eisenack, 1967, pl.19, fig. 9
Paratype: Cookson and Eisenack, 1967
Locus typicus: Strahan, Tasmania
Stratum typicum: Paleocene

Original description: Cookson and Eisenack, 1967, p.134
Open shell roughly spherical in outline, with or without a short, blunt antapical prominence towards one side and a variable number of simple or branched appendages which vary considerably in both length and width, and may be either free or united with neighbouring ones. The appendages are most numerous near the margins of the shell, and almost entirely absent from a narrow central area on one side of the shell. The shell opens by the detachment of the apical portion along an almost straight line.
Dimensions: Holotype overall diameter c. 109 µm, shell c. 75 µm, appendages c. 20-34 µm long. Range overall diameter c. 85-120 µm, shell c. 60-90 µm, appendages 10-38 µm long.

Affinities:
Cookson and Eisenack, 1967, p.135: C. variabile, as the specific name suggests, is extremely variable, and the limits and even generic placing of some of the examples are difficult to assess. C. variabile is clearly distinct from C. retintextum Cookson 1965 from certain Victorian Upper Cretaceous (probably Senonian) deposits and particularly the Paleocene Pebble Point Formation, in which both surfaces have clearly defined unornamented areas and all the appendages are looped.
Feedback/Report bug