Loftusioidea Brady, 1884

Schlagintweit, Felix & Rashidi, Koorosh, 2016, Some New And Poorly Known Benthic Foraminifera From Late Maatrichtian Shallow-Water Carbonates Of The Zagros Zone, Sw Iran, Acta Palaeontologica Romaniae 12 (1), pp. 53-70 : 57

Superfamily Loftusioidea Brady, 1884

? Family Cyclamminidae Marie, 1941

Subfamily Pseudochoffatellinae Loeblich & Tappan, 1985

Genus Broeckinella Henson, 1948

Remarks: It should be mentioned here that in the definition of the families Cyclamminidae and Spirocyclinidae, Albrich et al. (2015, p. 255) where not following the classification of Kaminski (2014). According to these authors “the genera with polygonal subepidermal patterns should be ascribed to the Family Spirocyclinidae instead of the Cyclamminidae ”. In this definition, the genus Broeckinella possessing a polygonal subepidermal pattern (e.g., Fig. 9d , left side) should be included in the Spirocyclinidae .

Broeckinella arabica Henson, 1948

Fig. 9a–e

*1948 Broeckinella arabica n. gen., n. sp. – Henson, p. 93, pl. 7, fig. 6, text-fig. 13a-c.

1978 Broeckinella arabica Henson – Cherchi and Schroeder, p. 514, fig. 1 A-C.

2004 Dicyclina schlumbergeri – Khosrow Tehrani and Afghah, pl. 2, fig. 4.

2008 Dicyclina schlumbergeri – Khosrow Tehrani et al., pl. 1, fig. 6.

Description: Test compressed, with numerous chambers rapidly increasing in width so that the test becomes slightly flabelliform ( Fig. 9a–b ). Information on the initial part is not available in our sections (for details see Cherchi and Schroeder, 1978). The wall is very finely agglutinating and the chamber margins are subdivided by exoskeletal elements, both vertical and horizontal resulting in a polygonal meshwork (or pattern) ( Fig. 9a, d ).

Remarks: Broeckinella arabica is the type-species of the genus Broeckina described by Henson (1948) from the Maastrichtian? of Qatar. According to the critical literature review of Cherchi and Schroeder (1978) there is obviously no verified other record of this taxon besides its type-locality. In the Tarbur Formation of the Mandegan section, it was rarely observed in samples Rt 64, 68, 78, 85, and 104, referring to the upper most part of unit 1, and persisting into unit 3 ( Fig. 4 ). The material of Broeckinella arabica from the Tarbur Formation does not include centered sections. Data on the test dimensions only comprise incomplete sections attaining a maximum size of 2.4 mm. B. arabica was figured as Dicyclina schlumbergeri from the Maastrichtian of the Tarbur Formation by Khosrow Tehrani and Afghah (2004) and the Maastrichtian of the Amiran Formation (SW Iran, Zagros Zone) where the authors distinguished a Loftusia- Dicyclina assemblage zone. On the other side, Dicyclina cf. schlumbergeri is common in the upper part of the Tarbur Formation ( Fig. 4 ).

Figures

Fig. 9 Broeckinella arabica Henson (a–e) and Dicyclina cf. schlumbergeri Munier-Chalmas (f), Late Maastrichtian Tarbur Formation of Mandegan section, Zagros Zone, SW Iran. a–d Oblique equatorial sections, partly fragmentary, in some parts crossing the subepidermal network of beams and rafters (e.g., left side of d). e Oblique section of Broeckinella arabica, comparable to the section erroneously illustrated as “Dicyclina schlumbergeri” by Khosrow Tehrani et al., 2008 in pl. 1, fig. 6. f Dicyclina cf. schlumbergeri Munier-Chalmas, subaxial section. Thin-sections: Rt 104 (a), Rt 64 (b), Rt 78 (c), Rt 85 (d), Rt 68 (e), SNSB-BSPG 2016 III-4 (f). Scale bars 0.5 mm.

Fig. 4 Vertical distribution of the described taxa and some index forms of larger benthic foraminifera in the Tarbur Formation of the Mandegan section.