Early appearance of larger foraminifera supposedly characteristic for late Eocene in the Igualada basin, NE Spain

Abstract

The redescovery and exact location of Biplanisipira and abundant, free Pellatispira on the slopes of Puig Aguilera in the Igualada basin triggers the disscusion about the age of the first apperance of so many other genera considered  so far as restricted to the Priabonian. In the Igualada basin, Biplanispira, Pellatisipira, Heterostegina reticulate and Silvestriella are found together with the other, larger foraminifera considered older than Priabonian. i.e. with Nummulites ptukhiani, Assilina schwageri and A. roselli. These latter species belong to lineages known to evolve constinuously from Lutetian to Pirabonian. The three representatives of the phyia concurrently indicate a Bartonian age of sediments yielding Pellatispira and its associates.