32 CALCAREOUS ALGAE OF THE MIDDLE EAST 



He regards this small variety as possibly transitional to C. parvula. It certainly 

 seems that C. jurassica was the rootstock for other and later species, and that this 

 evolution may well have been connected with areas of late- Jurassic uplift and 

 emergence. 



Clypeina inopinata Favre 1932 



This species, described by Favre (1932) as distinct from C. jurassica and as 

 succeeding it in the Swiss Valanginian, is not known to me with certainty from the 

 Middle East, although basal Cretaceous is well-represented in available collections. 

 Occasional qualified records in unpublished reports are based on rare and frag- 

 mentary Clypeina sp., and no good C. inopinata have been noted. The species may 

 be a local successor to C. jurassica in the Franco-Swiss area only. M. Dufaure of 

 Bordeaux informed me (personal communication 1965) that the type-occurrence of 

 C. inopinata is, in fact, Upper Berriasian i.e. pre- Valanginian. 



Clypeina lucasi Emberger 

 (PI- 5, ng. 4) 



1956 Clypeina lucasi Emberger : 549, pi. 24, f. i, 2, 7. 

 i960 Clypeina lucasi Emberger ; Elliott : 223. 



Description (after Emberger). Fertile verticils almost flat, circular, diameter 

 2-5-3-0 mm. and about 0-5 mm. thick : 12-18 club-shaped sporangial chambers, of 

 about i-i mm. long and max. diameter 0-5 mm., fused laterally for § of their length, 

 separated by shallow grooves, and terminally imperforate. Central cavity of 

 0-35-0-48 mm. diameter, margined by a feeble raised ring above and a more promi- 

 nent one below. 



Horizon. Valanginian of Algeria and Oman. 



Material. Thin-sections in basal Cretaceous limestones (Thamama Formation 

 Equivalent), Hugf area, southern Oman, Arabia. 



Remarks. This distinctive species was described by Emberger (1956) from solid 

 (silicified) specimens found in the Algerian Valanginian, where it was accompanied 

 by Clypeina marteli Emberger, also new. In the Middle East the two species occur, 

 together with the codiacid Arabicodium aegagrapiloides Elliott, at the same level in 

 Southern Oman, Arabia. In the thin-sections of limestone C. lucasi may be recog- 

 nized, the details corresponding with much of Emberger's description. 



Clypeina marteli Emberger 



(PI. 4) fig- 1) 



1956 Clypeina marteli Emberger : 550, pi. 24, f. 3-6. 

 i960 Clypeina marteli Emberger ; Elliott : 223. 



Description. Stellate verticils, gently curved, diameter 1-2 mm., consisting of 

 from 7 to 12 radiating tubules, fused laterally for about the inner third of their length 

 and then free outwards, surrounding an inner circular cavity of from 10-14% of the 



