The Deshayesites Kazansky, 1914 (Ammonoidea) Representatives in Romania, A Link Between the West-European and Caspian Assemblages of this Genus

Abstract

Some 20 species and subspecies of the genus Deshayesites have been identified until now in the Lower Aptian deposits of the South Carpathian central units (=“the Median Dacides”, sensu Sandulescu, 1984) in the Dâmbovicioara Couloir; of the East Carpathian flysch (=“the Outer Dacides”); of the South Carpathians marginal inner structural units (=“the Marginal Dacides”) in the Svinija area; and also, of the eastern part of the foreland Moesian Platform, cropping out in South Dobrogea. The Deshayesites species/subspecies recognised in the almost continuous successions of the Dâmbovicioara and Svinita areas are earliest Aptian in age; several of these species also appear in the Tuarkiricus and Weissi Zones from Turkmenistan (Bogdanova, 1979), while others are found in the Forbesi Zone (Kiliani and Callidiscus Subzones), from southern England (Casey, 1964); thus the earliest Aptian assemblage of Deshayesites constitutes a link between the western European and Caspian ones. In addition, Deshayesites multicostatus SWINNERTON, described from the Deshayesi Zone in England, appears in the Dâmbovicioara Couloir in the same beds with the species typical of the Forbesi Zone. The only specimen recorded in South Dobrogea is a local species: Deshayesites flexuosus CHIRIAC, found with a species of Megatyloceras; and D. involutus SPATH, pertaining to the Deshayesi Zone, too, was recorded in the East Carpathian flysch.