Biometric analysis of Nummulites bahariyaensisn. sp. (Nummulites partschi group) from the Bartonian of Bahariya Oasis, Egypt

Abstract

Nummulites bahariyaensisn. sp., typical of Nummulites partschi group, Nummulites gizehensis subgroup, is biometrically studied, described and photographed through both generations from El-Hamra Formation, Garra El Hamra, northern plateau of Bahariya Oasis, Western Desert of Egypt. From the biometric analysis, N. bahariyaensis is phylogenetically parallel to Nummulites lyelli, both of Bartonian age based on the presence of Nummulites decrouezae and Nummulites aff. pulchellus which were dated as Bartonian from Gebel Mokattam, the species which is equated with those from Naalon stratigraphic section, Fayum, by Morsi et al. (2003). Nummulites bahariyaensis could be compared with Nummulites champollioni as both are thick in the microspheric generation. However, the phylogeny of the present new species should be searched on. The described species spans SBZ 17 of the Shallow Benthic Zones of Serra-Kiel et al. (1998, Bull Soc Geol France 169(2):281-299), which denotes an Early Bartonian (= Biarritzian sensu Hottinger and Schaub 1960, Eclogae Geol Helv 53: 453-479). At Garra El Hamra, El-Hamra Formation with N. bahariyaensis unconformably overlies the Qazzun Formation (Late Ypresian) emphasising that the Lutetian and the top part of Ypresian possibly are missing.http://zoobank.org/22549148-0BD6-4097-A22C-01CA614B5CE1. © 2012 Taylor & Francis.