CALCAREOUS ALGAE OF THE MIDDLE EAST 



Measurements and detail of Broeckella spp. Dimensions in mm. 



27 





belgica 



belgica 



belgica 



ranikotensis 



minuta 





(type) 



(Cuba) 



(M.E.) 







Length of unit 



i-3 



up to 2-0 



1 04 



3-5-5-° 



0-45-0-90 



Outer diam. of unit 



i-8 



1-4-2-5 



I-IO 



2-0-2-5 (max) 



0-25-0-45 



Central canal diameter 



o-6 



0-35-0-8 



0-4 



0-66-0-83 (max) 



0-05-0-15 



No. of verticils per unit 



4 



4-6 



4 



20 approx. 



numerous units 

 (fused) 



No. of primary branches 













per verticil 



8-12 



10-15 



12 appr. 



15-20 



15-20 



Horizon. Palaeocene of Europe, Cuba and Middle East. 



Material. Random thin sections from the Palaeocene Sinjar Limestone of 

 Kashti, Sulemania Liwa, North-east Iraq, and from the Palaeocene of Sahil Maleh, 

 Batinah Coast, Oman, Arabia. 



Remarks. Both these occurrences are in rocks yielding a varied and character- 

 istic Palaeocene algal microflora, as well as typical foraminifera for this level. 



Genus CLYPEINA Michelin 1845 



Diagnosis. Flat, saucer-, bowl- or funnel-shaped calcareous discs formed of 

 horizontally-fused radial tubes : centrally they meet in a stout calcareous ring, each 

 tube communicating by a single pore with the central cavity : the central ring is 

 thickened below by the fused bases of the radial tubes and sometimes a smaller 

 similar feature shows on the upper surface. In life these were the calcified structures 

 of fertile dasyclad whorls. 



Clypeina occurs as small fossil calcareous discs, saucer-, bowl- or funnel-shaped, 

 centrally perforate, and with the solid portion composed of fused radiating tubules : 

 communicating each by a single core with the central cavity. Usually the discs are 

 separate, but occasionally several occur together in vertical, consecutive association. 

 Described by Michelin (1845 : 177) from the French Oligocene as a coral, it was sub- 

 sequently referred to other marine invertebrate groups by various authors until 

 Munier-Chalmas (1877), in a brief communication, drew attention to its true algal 

 nature. 



Clypeina was reconstructed from Eocene material to show the probable structure 

 and appearance of the plant in life (Morellet & Morellet 1918). These authors 

 showed a dasyclad with central stem-cell bearing whorls of thin hair-like sterile 

 branches below, and fused calcified cuplike fertile whorls above, each fertile whorl 

 partially embracing the next : the plant is completed by a tuft of hair-like branches 

 forming the terminal umbel, calcified at the base to give a perforate, " pepper-pot 

 top ", structure (Fig. 3). The Morellets worked on loose, dissociated, elements from 

 the unconsolidated sediments of the Paris Basin, and besides typical fertile whorls 



