CALCAREOUS ALGAE OF THE MIDDLE EAST 49 



Epimastopora sp. 



Fragmentary remains referred to the genus are said by Rezak (1959) to be 

 abundant in the upper part of the Permian Khuff Formation (probably Upper 

 Permian) of Dammam no. 43 well, Saudi Arabia. 



Genus FURCOPORELLA Pia 1918 



Diagnosis. Cylindrical dasyclad tube with successive verticils of horizontal 

 paired straight radially divergent branches ; each pair of branches commences at a 

 single opening on the interior : bifurcation occurs almost at once and the two 

 divergent secondaries extend to the exterior. 



Furcoporella diplopora Pia 



(PI. 11, figs. 7-9) 



1918 Furcoporella diplopora Pia : 209, pi. 1, figs. 1, 2 ; text-fig. 46. 



1940 Furcoporella diplopora Pia ; Pfender : 242. 



1956 Furcoporella diplopora Pia ; Elliott : 332, pi. 2, figs. 5, 6. 



1960 Furcoporella diplopora Pia ; Elliott : 225. 



1966 Furcoporella diplopora Pia ; Massieux : 121, fig. 4, pi. 4, figs. 8, 9. 



Description. Hollow cylindrical calcareous tube, long and straight-sided ; 

 length (incomplete) up to 5-0 mm. seen, with external diameter of up to o-6 mm., 

 and corresponding internal diameter of 0-325 mm. ; d/D ratio on smaller specimens 

 from 48-55%. Numerous regular horizontally-set verticils of paired branches ; 

 about n per mm. of tube-length. Each verticil shows about 8 pairs, each commenc- 

 ing on the inside of the tube as a single large pore : in transverse section the very 

 short primary canal is seen to divide at once into two secondaries, which diverge at 

 an obtuse angle varying from 45-70 ° and proceed, widening slightly, in a straight 

 course to the periphery where they widen sharply to emerge as external pores. In 

 vertical section only a succession of straight, coarse, waisted pores is seen ; in an 

 oblique vertical cut the plane of section, traversing successive near-identical pore- 

 pairs outwards, shows that the canals widen transversely but not vertically before 

 splitting into two. 



Horizon. Middle Eocene of Central and Southern Europe : Palaeocene and 

 Eocene of Middle East. 



Material. In Iraqi Kurdistan, from the Sinjar Formation (Palaeocene-Lower 

 Eocene) of Banik and (subsurface) Gullar no. 1 well (both Mosul Liwa) and Kashti 

 (Sulemania Liwa) ; from the Kolosh Formation (Palaeocene-Lower Eocene) of 

 Rowanduz and Koi Sanjak (both Erbil Liwa), and of Sedelan (Sulemania Liwa). In 

 southern Iraq, fragmentary and ill-preserved remains from the Palaeocene Ghurra 

 Beds of the Umm er Rhudhama Formation, Wagsa (Diwaniyeh Liwa) and elsewhere 

 in the southwestern Iraqi desert. In Arabia, from the Palaeocene-Lower Eocene of 

 the Batinah Coast, Oman ; from the Palaeocene of Jol Ba Hawar, and the Palaeo- 

 cene-Lower Eocene of Aqabar Khemer, Hajar, both Hadhramaut. See also 

 Hadhramaut record of Beydoun (i960 : 146). 



