Abstract
This contribution presents new findings of regular echinoid elements from Upper Valanginian claystones, marlstones, and mudstones recovered near the base of the Pilmatué Member, Agrio Formation, in the Puerta Curaco and Área 3000 sections, Province of Neuquén. The recovered material includes isolated elements of Aristotle’s lantern, spines, ambulacral and interambulacral plates obtained from washed residues of micropaleontological samples. Their taxonomy covers several possible regular echinoids included within the Acroechinoidea. Considering the tubercles, pore-pairs, type of plates, and ambulacral plating style, these fragments could be assigned to the “diademataceans”. The spines and the rotulae cannot be attributed to a specific taxon because they are found in several different regular echinoid clades. The morphology of the hemi-pyramids is common to different regulars; this fact coupled with their poor preservation prevents a confident assignment to a higher taxonomic level. Wedge-shaped teeth, typical of irregular echinoids, cannot be linked to any of the other recovered remains. These fossiliferous horizons also contain a rare to very abundant assemblage of benthic foraminifera dominated by Epistomina loncochensis Ballent, few ostracods, and resistant calcareous nannofossils. The presence of E. loncochensis indicates quiet marine environments and scarcity of oxygen in the water/bottom interface. Claystone composition of the level rich in echinoid remains suggests a detrital input from shallower environments by means of currents, explaining the disarticulation of the echinoids.
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Acknowledgements
Authors thank G. Cusminsky and E. Bernasconi for inviting us to present the results of our contribution to the Micropaleontological Symposium at the RACAPA 2016. We are very grateful to A. Kroh for his advice on the taxonomy of echinoids and especially for his valuable comments and suggestions; to J. Nebelsick and an anonymous reviewer whose constructive suggestions improved the paper; to Beatriz Aguirre-Urreta for ammonite determination; to M. Barbé and P. Álvarez for their great and patient help with laboratory preparation of samples. We also thank financial support to Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (ANPCyT) PICT 2013–1413, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, and YPF S.A. This is the contribution R-236 of the Instituto de Estudios Andinos ‘Don Pablo Groeber’ (IDEAN-UBA-CONICET).
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Caramés, A., Adamonis, S., Concheyro, A., Remírez, M. (2019). New Finding of Regular Echinoid Elements and Microfossils from the Pilmatué Member, Agrio Formation (Early Cretaceous), Neuquén Basin, Argentina. In: Cusminsky, G., Bernasconi, E., Concheyro, G. (eds) Advances in South American Micropaleontology. Springer Earth System Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02119-1_1
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