Lotharingibelus, Weis & Mariotti & Pignatti & Delsate, 2025

Weis, Robert, Mariotti, Nino, Pignatti, Johannes & Delsate, Dominique, 2025, Lotharingibelus n. gen., a new belemnite genus from the upper Toarcian Minette ironstones of the NE Paris Basin, Geodiversitas 47 (23), pp. 767-781 : 771

Genus Lotharingibelus n. gen.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:

TYPE SPECIES. — Belemnites meta Blainville, 1827 (synonym of Belemnites brevis var. C Blainville, 1827).

ETYMOLOGY. — Named after Lotharingia, a medieval kingdom comprising present-day Lorraine ( France), Luxembourg, Saarland ( Germany), Netherlands, most of Belgium, and Germany west of the Rhine, and corresponding roughly to the main geographic distribution of the taxa herein included.

INCLUDED SPECIES. — Belemnites meta Blainville, 1827 ; Belemnites subgiganteus Branco, 1879 .

OCCURRENCE. — Late Toarcian (Dispansum to Aalensis zones) of NE France ( Lorraine), Luxembourg,SE Belgium (Gaume),Northern Germany.

DIAGNOSIS. — Megateuthidid possessing a conical to cylindroconical orthorostrum with a short and obtuse apical part, and a small cavity on the tip of the apex. Apical grooves absent; a shallow dorsolateral depression on each flank. Alveolus deeply penetrating and eccentric. Alveolar angle 28-32°. Epirostrum rudimentary or well-developed.

REMARKS

The taxa included herein in Lotharingibelus n. gen. have been attributed in the past to the genera Dactyloteuthis Bayle, 1878 , Arcobelus Sachs in Sachs & Nalnjaeva, 1967, Brevibelus Doyle, 1991 (synonym of Brachybelus Naef, 1922 ), Homaloteuthis Stolley, 1919 , Megateuthis Lissajous, 1915 , and Mesoteuthis Lissajous, 1915 . Lotharingibelus n. gen. is distinguished from the similarly shaped Dactyloteuthis by its more conical profile, the deeper penetrating alveolus and the absence of apical grooves on the orthorostrum. It is distinguished from the Boreal-Arctic genus Arcobelus by the presence of epirostral development and a lower alveolar angle. The genus Megateuthis (synonym of Mesoteuthis ) differs from Lotharingibelus n. gen. by the presence of two dorsolateral apical grooves and a shallower alveolus. The coeval genus Brevibelus is distinguished from Lotharingibelus n. gen. by the shorter and more slender, cylindrical rostrum, a typically mucronate apex and the absence of an epirostral development.