Uteria aff. merienda ( Elliott, 1968 )

SCHLAGINTWEIT, FELIX, RASHIDI, KOOROSH & MOSAVINIA, ABDOLMAJID, 2021, First Record Of Calcareous Green Algae (Dasycladales, Halimedaceae) From The Paleocene Chehel Kaman Formation Of North-Eastern Iran (Kopet-Dagh Basin), Acta Palaeontologica Romaniae 17 (1), pp. 51-64 : 53

Uteria aff. merienda ( Elliott, 1968)

Fig. 2b , 5b

*1968 Clypeina merienda n. sp. – Elliott, p. 35, pl. 4, figs. 2-3, 7-8.

1982 Clypeina merienda Elliott – Deloffre and Génot, p. 51, pl. 3, figs. 6-7.

1990 Uteria merienda (Elliott) – Radoičić, pl. 10, fig. 5.

Remarks: As the sections illustrated by Elliott (1968) from the Paleocene Sinjar Formation of Iraq were assigned to the genus Clypeina Michelin , they were interpreted as belonging to fertile laterals. “Reminiscent of Clypeina ”, they were referred to the sterile laterals of the genus Uteria Michelin showing two types of laterals, sterile and fertile ( Radoičić, 1990; Dieni et al., 1985, p. 26). This type of thallus structure is well discernible in the longitudinal section illustrated in Figure 11a, a specimen from Eastern Iran (Sistan Suture Zone). There may be one or two fertile whorls between the disc-like whorls of sterile laterals. The specimens from the Chehel Kaman Formation refer exclusively to fragments of sterile laterals. A comparative table of the different Uteria species, excluding U. merienda , has been provided by Deloffre et al. (1989, tab. 1). In fact, the new species described by Deloffre et al. (1989) as Uteria mexicana from the upper Paleocene can in our opinion not be differentiated distinctly from the Iraqi species and might be a possible junior synonym of the latter.

Figures

Fig. 2 Wackestone with numerous specimens of the calcareous benthic foraminifera Rahaghia khorassanica (Rahaghi) from the Chehel Kaman Formation, outcrops along the road Mashhad-Sarakhs. Note the verticil of Uteria aff. merienda (Elliott) in b and fragment of Neomeris in d with two partially preserved pedunculated fertile ampullae and one secondary lateral. Scale bars 0.5 mm in b–d. Thin-sections Nf 8 (a, d), Nf 5 (b), Nf 13 (c).

Fig. 5 Thyrsoporella/Trinocladus, tangential section (c), Uteria aff. merienda (Elliott) (b), oblique longitudinal section from Paleocene carbonates of the Chehel Kaman Formation, northeastern Iran. Thin-sections: Nf 13 (a), NF 4 (b).

Fig. 11 Selection of Paleocene Dasycladales from different parts of Iran: Eastern Iran-Sistan Suture Zone (a, c-f, i), Central Iran (g), and Southwestern Iran-Zagros Zone (b, h). a, Uteria merienda (Elliott), longitudinal section, thin-section BN 59. b, Rostroporella oviformis Segonzac, oblique section, thin-section Qs 59. c, Dissocladella savitriae Pia (above), longitudinal section, and Cymopolia aff. morelletorum Beckman (below), oblique section, thin-section 2pb 76. d, Triploporella apenninica Baretti, longitudinal-oblique section, thin-section 2pb 39. e, Cymopolia sp., longitudinal section of an article, thinsection 2pb 3. f, Clypeina socaensis Deloffre & Radoičić, oblique section, thin-section 2pb 27. g, Orioporella sinensis (Wang), thin-section Ah 161. h, Thyrsoporella sp., thin-section Qs 7. i, Jodotella sloveniaensis Deloffre & Radoičić, oblique longitudinal section, thin-section 2pb 40. Scale bars 1 mm (a-d, g) and 0.5 mm (e-f, h-i).