CALCAREOUS ALGAE OF THE MIDDLE EAST 57 



Munieria baconica Deecke 

 (PI. 15, figs. 3-8) 



1883 Munieria baconica Deecke : 9, pi. 1, figs. 4-8. 



1920 Munieria baconica Hantk. ; Pia : 144, pi. 7, figs. 16-26, text-fig. 25. 



1948 Munieria baconica Hantk. ; Carozzi : 351, pi. 6, fig. 3, text-fig. 48. 



1955b Munieria baconica Deecke ; Elliott : 126. 



1955a Munieria baconica Deecke ; Carozzi : 47, text-figs. 10-12. 



1958a Munieria baconica Deecke ; Elliott : 255, pi. 45, fig. 4. 



1958 Munieria baconica Deecke ; Radoicid : 79, pi. 1, text-figs. 2, 3. 



i960 Munieria baconica Deecke ; Elliott : 223, 224. 



1962 Munieria baconica Hantken ; Delmas & Deloffre : 216, pi. 3. 



Description (based on Pia and Carozzi). Dasyclad with external diameter (at 

 verticil-level) of o-6-i-6 mm., internal diameter (stem-cell) of 0-05-0-26 mm. ; 

 verticils set apart at distances of about 66% of their diameter. Each verticil 

 horizontal, consisting of about 16 straight radial simple branches of about 0-08-0-09 

 mm. median diameter. Verticils and stem-cell thickly calcified, to give successive 

 thick horizontal discs at verticil level, joined to the thick stem-cell calcification. 

 Occasionally calcification unites the discs peripherally. 



Horizon. Upper Jurassic-bottom Cretaceous of Switzerland and Jura ; top 

 Albian of France (Delmas & Deloffre 1962) ; Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous of 

 Italy (Sartoni and Crescenti 1962). Lower Cretaceous of Spain, central and south- 

 eastern Europe and Middle East. 



Material. In the Middle East, probably common but always fragmentary. 

 Seen in the Lower Cretaceous of Iraqi Kurdistan, Barremian to Aptian : Sarmord 

 Formation, Barremian level, and Qamchuqa Formation, Albian level of Surdash 

 (Sulemania Liwa) ; Qamchuqa Formation of Ru Kuchuk and Rowanduz, Mosul 

 and Erbil Liwas and Zibar-Isumeran, Mosul Liwa ; Aptian, Albian and Barremian- 

 Aptian levels respectively. In southern Arabia, Lower Cretaceous of Hadhramaut 

 (e.g. Mintaq, Wady Hajar ; Barremian-Aptian) , and Lower Cretaceous of Oman 

 (e.g. Haushi, South Oman). 



Remarks. Originally described by Deecke (1883) from the Aptian of Hungary. 

 Later Pia (1920) attempted a reconstruction of this alga from thin-section material. 

 Carozzi (1948 ; 1955a), gave line drawings of random sections of Swiss material : 

 he recorded it from Upper Kimmeridgian to Valanginian. Radoicic (1958) gave 

 excellent photographs of random sections of Jugoslav material from the Valanginian- 

 Hauterivian. 



My Middle East records (Elliott 1955b ; 1958a ; i960) record the species from 

 Barremian to Albian. 



This Middle East material is extremely fragmentary. It occurs in the Lower 

 Cretaceous " debris-facies " (Elliott 1958a), an off-shore deposit in which small 

 calcareous scraps, largely algal, form an appreciable part of the sediment. Much of 

 this debris is unidentifiable, but Permocalculus spp., Actinoporella podolica, and 

 Salpingoporella arabica can be recognized : their study was greatly facilitated by the 

 occasional discovery of whole or near-complete segments, verticils or individual 



