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Clarification of an index nannofossil species for the Paleocene/Eocene boundary
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 May 2016
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The first occurrence of Discoaster diastypus Bramlette and Sullivan is a marker for the CP8/CP9 zonal boundary in the widely used nannofossil zonation of Okada and Bukry (1980). This zonal boundary has commonly been used to approximate the Paleocene/Eocene boundary (e.g., Berggren et al., 1985; Perch-Nielsen, 1985). In spite of the frequent use and importance of D. diastypus in biostratigraphy, there has been some confusion about this species in the literature, including some of the most used references. For instance, Bramlette and Sullivan (1961), who first described the species, incorrectly defined D. diastypus in terms of its ray number and size (see Figure 1), and included a specimen of Discoaster falcatus Bramlette and Sullivan as an isotype of D. diastypus (Bramlette and Sullivan, 1961, pi. 11, fig. 6). Perch-Nielsen (1971, pi. 51, figs. 8 and 10) figured a specimen of Discoaster barbadiensis Tan and another specimen of Discoaster bifax Bukry as D. diastypus. These mistakes apparently have gone unnoticed and were adopted by Romein (1979, p. 168) and incorporated in the Handbook of Cenozoic Calcareous Nannoplankton (Aubry, 1984, p. 46, fig. 111; p. 48, figs. 114 and 115).
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