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A ‘Problematic fossil’ revealed:Pycnoporidium ? eomesozoicum Flügel, 1972 (Late Triassic, Tethys)—not an enigmatic alga but a strophomenid brachiopod (Gosaukammerella n.g.)

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Summary

The microproblematicumPycnoporidium ? eomesozoicum Flügel, 1972, from Upper Triassic reefs of the Alpine-Mediterranean region, Turkey Oman and Iran (originally interpreted as possible alga) represents the type species of a new strophomenid brachiopod genus (Gosaukammerella n.g.). The genus is characterized by a very small, millimeter-sized plano-convex shell, whose ventral valve is attached to the substratum (mainly sponges) by symmetrically arranged outgrowths developing from a pseudopunctate, lamellose foliated shell wall and composed of densely spaced subparallel ‘tubes’ comparable with productide spines secreted by papillose extensions of the mantle.Gosaukammerella seems to be the only reliable candidate for the existence of post-Paleozoic strophomenid (productid ?) brachiopods.

Gosaukammerella eomesozoica is restricted to possibly cryptic, shaded reef environments inhabited predominantly by sponges serving as substrates for micromorphic brachiopods.

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  1. Institut für Paläontologie, Universität, Loewenichstraße 28, D-91054, Erlangen

    Baba Senowbari-Daryan &  Erik Flügel

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Senowbari-Daryan, B., Flügel, E. A ‘Problematic fossil’ revealed:Pycnoporidium ? eomesozoicum Flügel, 1972 (Late Triassic, Tethys)—not an enigmatic alga but a strophomenid brachiopod (Gosaukammerella n.g.). Facies 34, 83–99 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02546158

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