Ac ti narae op sis ven to si ana, A NEW SCLER AC TIN IAN SPE CIES FROM
THE LOWER CRE TA CEOUS OF PROVENCE (SE FRANCE)
El¿bi eta MO RY COWA
1& Jean- Pierre MASSE
21
In sti tute of Geo logi cal Sci ence, Jagiel lo nian Uni ver sity, Ole an dry Str. 2a, 30- 063 Kraków, Po land
2
Cen tre de Sédimentologie- Paléontologie, unité as so ciée au CNRS: Géo systÀmes car bonatés, Uni ver sité de Provence,
13331 Mar seille ce dex 3, France
Morycowa, E. & Masse, J.-P., 2007. Ac ti narae op sis ven to si ana, a new scler ac tin ian spe cies from the Lower Cre ta ceous of Provence (SE France). Annales Societatis Geologorum Poloniae, 77: 141–145.
Ab stract: Ac ti narae op sis ven to si ana is a new scler ac tin ian coral spe cies from the Lower Cre ta ceous shallow-
water lime stones of the Mont Ven toux (Provence, SE France). To date only two Late Ju ras sic spe cies of this ge nus have been known, i.e. Ac ti narae op sis ara neola Ro niewicz and A. ex ilis Ro niewicz. The new spe cies shows some simi lar ity to the Ju ras sic spe cies A. ara neola, but dif fers in mi cro struc ture de tails and mor phomet ric pa rame ters.
Key words: Scler ac tin ian cor als, Hapla raei dae, Ac ti narae op sis ven to si ana sp. nov., Lower Cre ta ceous, France.
Manu script re ceived 17 July 2007, ac cepted 20 Sep tem ber 2007
IN TRO DUC TION
Ac ti narae op sis, first de scribed by Ro niewicz (1968),
was hith erto mainly docu mented from the Ox for dian–Kim
-me ridgian, whereas poorly de fined spe cies were -men tioned
from the “mid
dle” and Lower Cre
ta
ceous; Löser; 1994,
Baron- Szabo & González- León, 2003). The ob jec tive of the
pres ent pa per is to de scribe an Early Cre ta ceous spe cies of
this ge nus, iden ti fied in the “Ur go nian” lime stones from
Provence. The Lower Cre ta ceous scler ac tin ian cor als of this
re gion are known from the lit era ture for about 150 years
(d’Or
bigny, 1849; de Fromen
tel, 1857; 1861) and have
been re ap praised dur ing the last dec ade (Masse & Mo ry
-cowa, 1994; Mo ry cowa & Masse, 1998). Their taxo nomic
di ver sity is rela tively high, the cor re spond ing fau nal as sem
-blages rich, and their stra tigraphic dis tri bu tion range from
the Valang in ian to Ap tian.
The speci men pre sented here is housed in the Geo logi
cal Mu seum of the In sti tute of Geo logi cal Sci ences, Jagiel
-lo nian Uni ver sity (coll.: UJ 137 P).
GEO GRAPHI CAL AND GEO LOGI CAL
FRAME WORK
The type lo cal ity of our new spe cies is sit u ated on the
west ern flank of the Mas sif du Ventoux (Fig. 1) and is in
-cluded in the so-called U1 Mem
ber that is the lower
bioclastic di
vi
sion of the “Urgonian tril
ogy ”de
fined by
Leenhardt (1883). The strati
graphic sec
tion in Fig
ure 2
shows that the up per part of the U1 Mem ber is marked by
one coral-bear
ing bed with Actinaraeopsis ventosiana
sp.nov., capped by a marly ho ri zon (“C bed” in Leenhardt,
1883), in which an ammonite as cribed to Martelites sp. was
found. This ge nus typ i fies the Martelites sarasini Zone, that
is the up per most part of the Up per Barremian (Hoedemaker
Fig. 1. Geo graphic map show ing the lo cal ity with Actinaraeo-psis ventosiana sp. nov. in the Mont-Ventoux area
et al., 2003). The micropaleontolog i cal as sem blage iden ti
-fied in the un der ly ing calcarenites: Orbitolinopsis buccifer,
Orbitolinopsis cuvillieri, Palorbitolina lenticularis (Masse,
1976) has also a Up
per Barremian strati
graphic sig
nif
i
cance. The struc ture of the up per coral bed closely re sem
-bles the lower, but grades up ward to rudist bear ing beds
with Caprinidae, di ag nos tic of the Lower Aptian.
Actinara-eopsis ventosiana sp. nov. is as so ci ated with other scleracti-
nian cor als, mainly co lo nial, of mas sive growth forms, in
-clud ing rep re sen ta tives of Clausastrea,
Hydnophorome-andraraea and Thamnasteria, and stromatoporoids, with a
subtidal, infralittoral sig nif i cance.
SYS TEM ATIC PA LAE ON TOL OGY
Ab bre vi a tions and ter mi nol ogy used in coral de scrip tions: D – corallum di am e ter (two per pen dic u lar di am e ters; in mm); H – height of corallum (max i mum; in mm);
d cal – calice di am e ter;
c-c – dis tance be tween cen tres of coral lites; S – num ber of ra dial el e ments in coral lite;
S1, S2-n – septa (ra dial el e ments) of suc ces sive size or ders; den s – den sity of ra dial el e ments per mm (mea sured in the outer zone of coral lites);
d tr – di am e ter of trabeculae mea sured along the septal plate; den tr (sect. trans.) – den sity of trabeculae mea sured along the septal plate, in trans verse sec tion;
den pores (long. sect.) – den sity of pores per mm in lon gi tu di nal septal sec tion;
den end – den sity of endothecal el e ments per mm in lon gi tu di nal sec tion;
(...) – less fre quent val ues are pre sented in brack ets;
trabecula (lat. pl – trabeculae): minitrabeculae (small trabeculae) – of di am e ters up to 50 µm; me dium-sized trabeculae – from about 50 to 100 µm and thick trabeculae – over 100 µm, even to ca. 500 µm.
Fam ily Haplaraeidae Vaughan et Wells, 1943
Ge nus Actinaraeopsis Roniewicz, 1968,
emend. Roniewicz, 1976
Type spe cies: Actinaraeopsis araneola Roniewicz, 1968
Roniewicz (1968) in tro duced into the lit er a ture a new ge nus Actinaraeopsis with two new spe cies Actinaraeopsis araneola and A. exilis com ing from the Up per Oxfordian of Œwiêtokrzyskie Mts (Holy Cross Mts in Po land). The for mer spe cies was also found in the Kimmeridgian of Dobrogea (Ro ma nia; Roniewicz, 1976) and in Iberic Mts. (Spain: Errenst, 1991). But Löser (1994) de scribed a spe cies from the Lower Cenomanian of Westphalia (Ger many) close to Actinaraeopsis araneola as Actinaraeopsis cf. araneola and Baron-Szabo & González-León (2003) as Actinaraeopsis sp. cf. A. araneola Roniewicz from the Up per Aptian–Lower Albian of the Sonora (Mex ico).
The new spe cies de scribed here has been in cluded in the ge -nus Actinaraeopsis, al though its mode of bud ding dif fers from that given (intratentacular bud ding) in the di ag no sis for the ge nus (Roniewicz, 1968). How ever, it seems that this sin gle fea ture is not suf fi cient to cre ate a new ge nus.
The spe cies de scribed here is note wor thy be cause it is the third spe cies from this ge nus and first from the Cre ta ceous of Pro -vence.
Actinaraeopsis ventosiana sp. nov.
Fig. 3A–G
Holotype: Prov. 4417/3, Fig. 3A–GType-level: Up per most Barremian (Sarasini Zone).
Type-lo cal ity: Ventoux Mas sif-FessoniÀres-Pied Gros, Pro vence,
France.
Et y mol ogy: From MontVentoux, the high est moun tain in west
-ern Pro vence.
Di ag no sis: Thamnasterioid, subcerioid col ony with dis tance be
tween coral lite cen tres from 4.5 to 6.5 mm; num ber of ra dial el e -ments in coral lites from about 40 to 50 and their den sity in pe riph eral coral lite zone 4–5 per 2 mm and den sity of tabuloid el e
-Fig. 2. Strati graphic sec tion of the west ern flank of the Mont-Ventoux Mas sif at FessoniÀres-Pied Gros, to show the po si tion of the Actinareopsis-bear ing coral bed. U1 and U2 rep re sent the lower and me dian di vi sions of the re gional “Urgonian tril ogy”
Fig. 3. Actinaraeopsis ventosiana sp. nov., Up per most Barremian-Ventoux mas sif-FessoniÀres-Pied Gros: Holotype No. 4417/3: A – Trans verse thin sec tion (4417/3a) of coral lites (skel e ton white); B – lon gi tu di nal sec tion of coral lites (4417/3b), typ i cal of haplaraeids. The po rous septa and thin subtabuloid endothecal el e ments vis i ble; C – Lon gi tu di nal sec tion of ra dial el e ments (4417/3d); D–Trans verse thin sec tion of coral lites (4417/3c; skel e ton white); E – Part of Fig. 3D, mag ni fied, show ing in ter nal septal edges with paliform pro jec tions and styliform columella; F, G – Frag ments of Fig. 3D show ing traces of rel a tively thick septal trabeculae (4417/3c)
ments 13–15 per 5 mm. The di am e ter of septal trabeculae mainly 160–250 µm.
Ma te rial: Spec i men: Prov. 4417/3; 4 thin sec tions: 4417/3a-d. Di men sions (in mm):
De scrip tion: Mas sive, thamnasterioid col ony with slightly
subpo lyg o nal calice out lines. Costosepta con flu ent, subequal in thick -ness, po rous, with fre quent anas to mo sis, ar ranged mainly in three to four size or ders. Eight to twelve septa S1 al most reach the coral -lite cen tre where their in ner edges mainly dis so ci ate to form paliform pro jec tions. Dis tal septal edges with reg u lar round denti-cles and lat eral septal faces cov ered by pointed gran ules. Colu-mella trabecular, in places papillar in ap pear ance (coluColu-mella + paliform pro jec tions). Endotheca com posed of thin subhorizontal tabuloid el e ments. Synapticules pres ent, mainly in pe riph eral co-rallite zone. Bud ding intercalicinal.
Microstructure: The costosepta are formed of sim ple, rel a tively
thick trabeculae (Figs E–G) ar ranged in an asym met ri cal fan, with the septal part shorter than the costal one. Trabeculae subcircular with ir reg u lar lat eral axes di verg ing from it. The trabecular di am e -ters mea sured along the septal me dian plane are ca. 160–250 µm. The columella con sists mainly of one trabecula.
Re marks: Actinaraeopsis ventosiana sp. nov. dif fers from the type spec i men A. araneola from the Up per Oxfordian of Œwiêto-krzyskie Mts (Holy Cross Mts, Po land; Roniewicz, 1968) in lesser den sity of ra dial and endothecal el e ments as well as in larger septal trabecula di am e ters (Tab. 1); more over in type of bud ding (in A. araneola – intratentacular). Our new spe cies dif fers from Actinaraeopsis cf. araneola de scribed from the Lower Ceno-manian of Westphalia (Ger many; Löser, 1994) in con sid er ably lesser den sity of ra dial el e ments and from Actinaraeopsis sp. cf. A. araneola Roniewicz (Up per Aptian–Lower Albian: Mex ico, Sonora; Baron-Szabo & González-León, 2003) in slightly lesser septal den sity and smaller num ber of septa (Tab. 1). Un for tu -nately, nei ther the microstructure of the Cre ta ceous spec i mens men tioned above, nor their type of bud ding have been given in the lit er a ture. It should how ever, be re marked that if the microstruc-ture of the Mex i can spe cies is like that of our new spe cies, then Actinaraeopsis sp. cf. A. araneola is closer to the Cre ta ceous A. ventosiana sp. nov. than to the Ju ras sic A. araneola Roniewicz. Oc cur rence: Up per most Barremian – Ventoux mas sif, Fesso-niÀres-Pied Gros: 4417/3.
Ac knowl edge ments
Profesor Ewa Roniewicz and Doc tor Bogu³aw Ko³odziej are cor dially thanked for ther help ful re marks. We also thank Prof.
Roniewicz for mak ing avail able the col lec tion of Actinaraeopsis from the Up per Ju ras sic of the Holy Cross Mts (Po land) and of Dobrogea (Ro ma nia).
REF ER ENCES
Baron Szabo, R. C. & González León, C. M., 2003. Late Ap -tian–Early Al bian Cor als from the Mu ral Lime stone of the Bis bee Group (Tuape and Cerro de Oro Ar eas), Sonora, Mex ico. In: (ed. Scott R.W.), U.S. Gulf Coast Cre ta ceous Stra -tigra phy and Pa leoe col ogy: Perkins Me mo rial Vol ume, 2002. Spe cial Pub li ca tion in Ge ol ogy No. 1, pp.: 187–225. Er renst, C., 1991. Das koral lenführende Kim me ridgium der nord
-westli chen iberi schen Ket ten und an gren zen den Ge bi ete (1). Pa lae on to graphica, (A), Stutt gart, 215: 1–3 (part 2): 42 pp. Fromen tel, E. de., 1857. De scrip tion des Polypi ers fos siles de
l’étage Néo comien. Bul le tin de la So ci été des Sci ences His to -ri ques et Na turelles de l’Y onne, Aux erre, 78 pp.
Fromentel, E. de., 1861. In tro duc tion ´ l’étude des polypiers fossiles. Mémoires de la Societé d’émulation du département du Doubs, Besançon, 3: 1–357.
Hoedemaker, P. J., Reboulet, S., Aguirre-Urreta, M. B., Alsen, P., Aoutem, M., Atrops, F., Barragan, R., Com pany, M., Gon za -lez-Arreola, Klein, J., Lukeneder, A., Ploch, I., Raisossadat, N., Raw son, P., Ropolo, P., Vasicek, Z., Vermeulen, J.& Wippich, M.G.E., 2003. Re port on the 1st In ter na tional Work shop of the IUGS Lower Cre ta ceous Ammonite Work ing Group, the “Kilian Group“(Lyon, 11 july 2002). Cre ta -ceous Re search, 24: 89–94.
Leenhardt, F., 1883. Etude géologique du Mont-Ventoux. ThÀse, 273 pp.
Löser, H., 1994. La fauna corallienne du Mont Kassenberg ´ Mulheim-sur-la-Ruhr (Bassin crétacé de Westphalie, Nord
Prov. 4417/3
c-c 4.5-6.5
den s 4-5/2
S ca. 40-50
S reach the centre 8-12 d tr ca. 160-250 µm den tr (sect. trans.) 3-4/1 den end 13-15 den pores (long. sect.) 3-4/2 D fragm. 45×60
H ca. 75
Early Cretaceous Late Jurassic
A. ventosiana sp. nov. A. cf. araneola Ron. A. sp. cf. A. araneola Ron. A. araneola Ron. Prov. 4417/3 Löser, 1994 Baron-Szabo & González-León Roniewicz, 1968 Roniewicz, 1976 d cal 3-4 3.5-4.5 c-c 4.5-6.5 4.5-5 4.5-6.5 3-6 3.3-6 den s 4-5/2 5-6/1 6-7/2 16/5 7-9/2* S ca. 40-50 ca 45 24-42 40-50 40-60 S reach the centre 8-12 12 d tr ca. 160-250 µm 100-140 µm den end 13-15 15-20/5 16/5 * – ob ser va tions by E. Morycowa
Ta ble 1
Di men sions of Actinaraeopsis ventosiana sp. nov
and sim i lar spe cies
Oust de l’Allemagne). Coral Re search Bul le tin, Dresden, 3: 1–91.
Masse, J.-P., 1976. Les calcaires urgoniens de Pro vence: Strati-graphie, Paléontologie, les paléoenvironnements et leur évo-lution. ThÀse sci. Univ. Aix-Mar seille II, 445 pp.
Masse, J.-P. & Morycowa, E., 1994. Les scléractiniaire hydno-phoroÎdes du Crétacé inférieur (Barremien-Aptien inférieur) de Pro vence (S.E. de la France). Systematique, stratigraphie et paléobiogéographie. Géobios, Lyon, 27, 4: 433–448. Morycowa, E. & Masse, J.-P., 1998. Les scléractiniaires du
Barré-mien-Aptien inférieur de Pro vence (SE de la France). Géobios, Lyon, 31: 725–766.
Orbigny (d’), A., 1849. Note sur les Polypiers fossiles, Masson, Paris: 12 pp.
Roniewicz, E., 1968. Actinaraeopsis, un nou veau genre de Madréporaire jurassique de Pologne. Acta Paeleontologica Polonica, Warszawa, 13, 2: 305–309.
Roniewicz, E., 1976. Les scléractiniaires du Jurassique supérieur de la Dobrogea centrale, Roumanie. Palaeontologica Polo-nica, Warszawa, 34: 17–121.
Streszczenie
El¿bieta Morycowa & Jean Pi erre Masse
Actinaraeopsis ventosiana,
NOWY GATUNEK KORALOWCA
SZEŒCIOPROMIENNEGO (SCLERACTINIA)
Z WCZESNEJ KREDY PROWANSJI
(SE FRANCJA)
W pracy opisano nowy gatunek koralowca kolonijnego Acti-naraeopsis ventosiana, pochodz¹cego z p³ytkowodnych wapieni górnobarremskich Prowansji (SE Francja). Dotychczas tylko dwa gatunki tego rodzaju s¹ znane z jury górnej, A. araneola Ronie-wicz i A. exilis RonieRonie-wicz. Nowy gatunek Actinaraeopsis vento-siana wykazuje pewne podobieñstwo do jurajskiego gatunku A. araneola, ale ró¿ni siê od niego parametrami morfometrycznymi i szczegó³ami budowy mikrostrukturalnej szkieletu.
