Draconisella mortoni sp. nov., a Mizzia-like Dasycladalean alga from the lower Cretaceous of Oman

Abstract

The study of the microfossil assemblage of Hauterivian to Lower Barremian strata in Oman led us to identify a new Triploporellacean alga. This species looks similar to some Permian Mizzia Schubert, 1909. It is compared with the latter genus, as well as with the Jurassic Draconisella Granier and Michaud, 1989, both referred to the Tribe Mizziineae. Mizzia being endosporate (with cysts supposedly located inside the main axis) and Draconisella cladosporate (with cysts supposedly located inside the laterals), the new species is ascribed to the latter genus. There are very few records of microfossils from the Hauterivian interval, and this new Dasycladalean alga may prove to be a good marker in shallow-water carbonate environments.