Abstract
Twenty-nine mudstone samples from coastal exposures of the upper Campanian Northumberland Formation on Hornby Island, British Columbia, Canada, have yielded diverse assemblages of exceptionally well-preserved dinoflagellate cysts belonging to the family Areoligeraceae. In total, at least 11 species belonging to eight genera occur throughout the studied section. Emendations are proposed for the genera Canningia, Canninginopsis, Circulodinium, Cyclonephelium and Senoniasphaera. The new species Canningia diastatikos sp. nov. is proposed. The assemblages include one species complex, which we refer to as the ‘Areoligera volata complex’, that exhibits morphological intergradation between forms typical of Areoligera coronata and Areoligera volata. It is postulated that morphological intergradation may reflect ecophenotypic variability which may present utility for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 669-689 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Palynology |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 2 2019 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This manuscript benefited from feedback provided by Dr Rob Fensome of the Geological Survey of Canada, Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Nova Scotia, and Dr Martin A. Pearce of Evolution Applied Limited, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom, as well as the input of three anonymous reviewers. Partial funding for this research was provided by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) V.P. (Discovery Grant).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 AASP–The Palynological Society.
Keywords
- North Pacific
- biostratigraphy
- microfossils
- palaeoecology
- palynology
- phytoplankton
- taxonomy
