7. Operculodinium centrocarpum (Deflandre & Cookson) Wall

(Fig. 3A–C)

Spheroidal cyst, with laevigate or finely granulated surface. Fine, elongate capitate processes, densely distributed over the entire surface. Archeopyle formed by loss of the third precingular plate (Sarjeant, 1974). Diameter (including projections) ca. 54–70 µm (x 60 µm). Ecological data: marine, cosmopolitan dinocyst found from estuaries to areas beyond the continental slope (Wall et al., 1977). Used as an index to ancient shoreline positions on the southern Brazilian coastal plain (Lorscheittter, 1983; Lorscheitter & Romero, 1985; Cordeiro & Lorscheitter, 1994; Lorscheitter & Dillenburg, 1998; Lorscheitter, 2003; Masetto & Lorscheitter, 2019; Roth et al., 2021).