NEW ARTICLE PUBLISHED!

A new marine palynomorph from the Turonian (Upper Cretaceous) in the USA

Paul Dodsworth and James Eldrett

Abstract. This paper documents a previously undescribed marine palynomorph, Doricodinium obscurum gen. et sp. nov., from Upper Cretaceous sections in the central and southern Western Interior of the USA.  Although an archaeopyle has not been confirmed, a case is made here for a probable dinoflagellate cyst, possible peridinioid affinity.  The type locality of D. obscurum is the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of Turonian Stage, at Pueblo, Colorado, where it consistently occurs in intra-Lower to middle Turonian deposits.  The taxon also occurs consistently in intra-Lower Turonian strata from the Iona-1 core, SW Texas, where astronomical age modelling gives an age range of 93.92–93.25 ± 0.12 Ma in that section.  Outside the USA, it has until now only been recorded from the Cenomanian–Turonian boundary interval in Pakistan.

Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 262, 10–16, 2019
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2018.12.003