What's in a name? Revision of Peneroplis turonicus Said and Kenawy, 1957 (benthic foraminifera), an inappropriately-named taxon from the Cenomanian of the southern Neotethys margin

Abstract

Peneroplis turonicus Said and Kenawy is a poorly known benthic foraminifer that was originally described based on isolated specimens from the Upper Cretaceous of Egypt. Specimens from the Cenomanian Sarvak Formation of Iran indicate the presence of a finely agglutinated test wall displaying a pseudo-keriothecal texture, therefore, excluding this taxon from the porcelaneous Miliolida, namely family Peneroplidae. Based on the test morphology, wall structure and foraminal features, the species is herein tentatively assigned to Neodubrovnikella Schlagintweit and Rashidi (order Loftusiida), with the new combination Neodubrovnikella turonica (Said and Kenawy). A critical literature review leads to the conclusion that N. turonica represents a southern Neotethys Cenomanian marker taxon reported so far from Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Kosovo, Greece, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. Therefore, Neodubrovnikella does not represent a Maastrichtian genus as previously assumed but is as old as Cenomanian, disappeared from the fossil record in the proximity of the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary and reappeared after a considerable gap and ghost range.