Articles | Volume 6, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.1144/jm.6.2.89
© Author(s) 1987. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.Durotrigia daveyi gen. et sp. nov., an Early Bajocian dinocyst with a variable precingular archaeopyle
Abstract. Durotrigia daveyi gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Inferior Oolite (Early Bajocian) of Dorset, England. It is the earliest distinctly tabulated gonyaulacacean dinocyst with a precingular archaeopyle. The archaeopyle is apparently variable, involving the loss of between 1 and 5 precingular plates. This variability poses some interesting taxonomic problems, particularly the implications to the value of the archaeopyle type as a high-level classification criterion. Some possible causes of archaeopyle variability are discussed.