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Palaeoperidinium hansonianum

Palaeoperidinium hansonianum (Traverse, 1955) Lentin and Williams, 1973; emend. Evitt, 1974

NOW Saeptodinium. Originally Peridinium (based on motile stage), subsequently Palaeoperidinium, thirdly (and now) Saeptodinium. Evitt (1974, p.4) indicated that this species has affinities with the modern species Peridinium limbatum (Stokes, 1887) Lemmermann, 1899.

Holotype: Traverse, 1955, pl.13, fig.147
Locus typicus: Vermont, Brandon Lignite
Stratum typicum: Late Oligocene

Original diagnosis: Traverse, 1955, p.77: Peridinium hansonianum
Very unusual microfossils grossly resembling crushed paperbags or collapsed rubber balls. The "collapsed bags" are much folded and wrinkled. Because of the folding, the fossils often have the appearance of being one sac within another. One, or sometimes 2 or 3, folds continue into snout-like processes. The larger of these processes are terminated by collar-like openings. If there are several processes, one is usually much longer than the others. Some specimens clearly show a belt-like, indented groove about 6 µm wide running around a diameter of the microfossil. This represents the "equatorial groove" of this group of flagellates. The entire surface of the microfossil is covered with very tiny but pronounced papillae. Overall size: ca. 70 µm by 80 µm.
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