Eocene nautiloids of British Somaliland. Bulletin of the AMNH ; v. 99, article 5
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Date
1952
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New York : [American Museum of Natural History]
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Abstract
"Some 20 years ago, W.A. Macfadyen and J.A. Hunt collected well over a hundred Tertiary nautiloids from British Somaliland (which had previously yielded only two specimens), and these constitute the basis for this study. All but one of them came from the north central portion of the country. The great majority were secured from the section exposed along the Biyo Gora River at Daban, some 25 kilometers southeast of Berbera. At that place, nautiloids occur in two zones, one in the Lower and one in the Middle Eocene; they are so abundant in the latter that the containing strata have been termed the Nautilus beds. A few sporadic individuals were secured from strata of comparable age at several other localities. Almost all of the forms known from British Somaliland belong in two closely related genera, Cimomia and Deltoidonautilus, but we have in addition a single representative of Aturia (a new species) and a very incomplete specimen that we are referring with question to Eutrephoceras. One species of Cimomia and one of Deltoidonautilus had already been described and named from the country; we are establishing six more of the former genus and four of the latter, and in addition are including discussions (and in some cases illustrations) of fragmentary and/or poorly preserved representatives of both. Figure 1 elucidates the relative abundance and general distribution of all of these forms. The literature contains references to a good many sporadic occurrences of Tertiary nautiloids in various parts of Africa. However, none of the British Somaliland forms seems to belong in species known from elsewhere, and none of the assemblages is similar except in a general way. The closest are perhaps those known from Senegal and Sudan in French West Africa. The fauna of the upper Ranikot series of western India (Sind) is somewhat reminiscent of the only large one known from Somaliland, that of the Nautilus beds at Daban, but the relationship is rather distant. Furthermore, close counterparts of the African faunas under consideration are not known from any of the other continents"--P. 319.
Description
p. 317-354, [11] p. of plates : ill. ; 27 cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 350-354).
Includes bibliographical references (p. 350-354).
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