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Florentinia reichartii
Florentinia reichartii Sluijs and Brinkhuis, 2009, p.1765–1766, pl.3, figs.F–L; pl.4, figs.A–C.
Holotype: Sluijs and Brinkhuis, 2009, pl.4, figs.A–C.
Age: latest Paleocene–earliest Eocene.
Original description (Sluijs & Brinkhuis, 2009):
Florentinia reichartii sp. nov. Plate 3F–L, Plate 4A–C
Derivation of name: named for Gert-Jan Reichart, geochemist at Utrecht University, in recognition of his pioneer integrated geochemical and palynological studies.
Holotype: Plate 4A–C. Specimen with numerous hollow processes, an antapical horn (4A), and an archeopyle involving precingular plate 3” (4A–B) plus all apical plates (see sulcal notch, Plate 4C); paratypes: Plate 3F–G, 3H–I, 3J, 3K–L.
Diagnosis: a small species of Florentina with distally closed, hollow, long cone-shaped processes and a short, blunt antapical horn.
Description: small, chorate gonyaulacean cyst, characterized by a small antapical horn, and an archeopyle that involves all apical and sometimes precingular plates. Operculum usually free, but may be partially attached. Central body is psilate and almost transparent. Processes are long, approximately (or sometimes more than) half the size of the main body, are hollow and distally-closed and non-tabular. Some processes may fuse in proximity of the central body. The antapical horn is relatively short, approximately as wide as long, and often barely visible. The archeopyle can only rarely be positively identified as type tA, and may additionally involve plate 4”, with a usually detached operculum. Tabulation is barely discernable, either by some degree of clustering of groups of processes, the archeopyle or the antapical horn reflecting 6””, which often constitutes the only consistent marker for orientation.
Discussion: Florentinia reichartii can be easily confused with Lingulodinium machaerophorum or Diphyes spp. during microscope analyses, but these are both usually larger and have precingular archeopyles, while L. machaerophorum also lacks an antapical horn. F. reichartii is much smaller than most other species within the genus, and its antapical horn is small relative to the size of the central body. Within the genus Florentinia, it bears closest resemblance to the much larger F. ferox, because processes may also fuse in proximity of the central body to create process-complexes. However, F. ferox has more proximally united processes that reflect tabulation, rather than clustered individual processes.
Dimensions: Holotype: 23×28 µm. Range: length 20(23)25 µm, breadth 23(24)28 µm. Specimens measured 10.
Stratigraphic occurrence: latest Paleocene and earliest Eocene on the New Jersey Shelf (upper Vincetown and Manasquan formations, this paper), northern plain of the Gulf of Mexico (Alabama, Missisippi, personal observation), East Tasman Plateau (Ocean Drilling Program Leg 189, personal observation).
Holotype: Sluijs and Brinkhuis, 2009, pl.4, figs.A–C.
Age: latest Paleocene–earliest Eocene.
Original description (Sluijs & Brinkhuis, 2009):
Florentinia reichartii sp. nov. Plate 3F–L, Plate 4A–C
Derivation of name: named for Gert-Jan Reichart, geochemist at Utrecht University, in recognition of his pioneer integrated geochemical and palynological studies.
Holotype: Plate 4A–C. Specimen with numerous hollow processes, an antapical horn (4A), and an archeopyle involving precingular plate 3” (4A–B) plus all apical plates (see sulcal notch, Plate 4C); paratypes: Plate 3F–G, 3H–I, 3J, 3K–L.
Diagnosis: a small species of Florentina with distally closed, hollow, long cone-shaped processes and a short, blunt antapical horn.
Description: small, chorate gonyaulacean cyst, characterized by a small antapical horn, and an archeopyle that involves all apical and sometimes precingular plates. Operculum usually free, but may be partially attached. Central body is psilate and almost transparent. Processes are long, approximately (or sometimes more than) half the size of the main body, are hollow and distally-closed and non-tabular. Some processes may fuse in proximity of the central body. The antapical horn is relatively short, approximately as wide as long, and often barely visible. The archeopyle can only rarely be positively identified as type tA, and may additionally involve plate 4”, with a usually detached operculum. Tabulation is barely discernable, either by some degree of clustering of groups of processes, the archeopyle or the antapical horn reflecting 6””, which often constitutes the only consistent marker for orientation.
Discussion: Florentinia reichartii can be easily confused with Lingulodinium machaerophorum or Diphyes spp. during microscope analyses, but these are both usually larger and have precingular archeopyles, while L. machaerophorum also lacks an antapical horn. F. reichartii is much smaller than most other species within the genus, and its antapical horn is small relative to the size of the central body. Within the genus Florentinia, it bears closest resemblance to the much larger F. ferox, because processes may also fuse in proximity of the central body to create process-complexes. However, F. ferox has more proximally united processes that reflect tabulation, rather than clustered individual processes.
Dimensions: Holotype: 23×28 µm. Range: length 20(23)25 µm, breadth 23(24)28 µm. Specimens measured 10.
Stratigraphic occurrence: latest Paleocene and earliest Eocene on the New Jersey Shelf (upper Vincetown and Manasquan formations, this paper), northern plain of the Gulf of Mexico (Alabama, Missisippi, personal observation), East Tasman Plateau (Ocean Drilling Program Leg 189, personal observation).