New records of Somalina, Globoreticulina and Austrotrillina (Larger Foraminifera) from the Eocene of Zakynthos (Ionian Islands, Greece) / Zakynthos (Ionian Adaları, Yunanistan) Eosen İstifinde Somalina, Globoreticulina ve Austrotrillina’nın (İri Bentik Foraminifer) Yeni Bulguları

We describe the new records of three larger foraminiferal genera from the Eocene of Zakynthos (pre-Apulian Domain; Ionian Islands, Greece), and their biostratigraphic and paleobiogeographic significance. Somalina Silvestri 1939 is a porcelaneous form that differs from Opertorbitolites Nuttal 1925 mainly for the numerous chamberlet-like cavities enclosed in the prominent lateral laminae. It has been recorded from the upper Cuisian−Lutetian of north-eastern Africa and the Middle East, but there were as yet no confirmed records for the central Neo-Tethys and Europe. Several specimens of Somalina were found in a clast of a conglomerate deposits cropping out in Zakynthos near the village of Agia Marina, on the east side of the Mt. Vrachionas anticline, with Alveolina cremae Checchia-Rispoli 1905, Orbitolites cf. complanatus Lamarck 1801 and Opertorbitolites sp. (upper Cuisian, SBZ 12 sensu Serra-Kiel et al. 1998). As the assemblage within the clast seems autochthonous or parautochthonous, the co-occurrence of these three Orbitolites-like forms is noteworthy, because it may indicate that possible mutual competition among the three genera did not lead necessarily to ecological exclusion. (Excerpt from Abstract)