Balkhania balkhanica Mamontova, 1966 (benthic foraminifera) and Kopetdagaria sphaerica Maslov, 1960 (dasycladalean alga) from the Lower Cretaceous Tirgan Formation of the Kopet Dagh mountain range (NE Iran) and their paleobiogeographic significance

Praeorbitolina claveli n.sp. (benthic Foraminifera) from the Lower Aptian sensu lato (Bedoulian) of Central Iran

“…Pachymarginalis SCHROEDER are not palaeobiogeographically diagnostic and were reported from both northern (e.g., MASSE et al, 1992) and southern Tethyan carbonate platforms (MANCINELLI & CHIOCCHINI, 2006). The northern Tethyan margin affinity is also further substantiated by the larger benthic foraminifers Balkhania balkhanica MAMONTOVA (TAHERPOUR KHALIL ABAD et al, 2013), Torremiroella hispanica BRUN & CANÉROT and the dasycladalean algal assemblages (BUCUR et al, 2012;HOSSEINI et al, 2013). For the differences between the orbitolinid fauna of Central Iran and that from southern Iran (Zagros zone, eastern part of the Arabian Plate) see the species compilation in SCHROEDER et al (2010).…”

Some steps toward a new story for the Jurassic - Cretaceous transition in Mount Lebanon

“…& NEUMANN, 1970, and Pseudochoffatella DELOFFRE, 1976(non 1961. These monospecific taxa are respectively Bathonian and Late Aptian-Early Albian in age whereas Balkhania is Barremian-Early Aptian (= Bedoulian) in age; • so far, it was only known from Afghanistan, Iran and Turkmenistan, on the northern margin of the Neotethys (TAHERPOUR KHALIL ABAD et al, 2013). The Lebanese find is the first record on the southern margin of the Tethys; • this species enables us to ascribe a Barremian age to the whole "Grès du Liban" in the studied area.…”

First record of Gitolampas subrotundus (Cotteau, 1856) (Echinoidea) from the Late Paleocene of Iran

“…this sedimentary basin is located in the northeast of Iran and south of turkmenistan as an intracontinental basin. It was formed on the hercynian metamorphosed basement at the sW margin of the turan Platform and is composed of approximately 10 km of mostly conformably Mesozoic and tertiary sediments dominated by carbonates (taheRPouR-KhaLIL-abad et al, 2013). these sediments were deposited in a marginal sea of the northern tethys.…”

“…ocean, one of the so-called Peri-tethyan basins, which became closed with the suturing of ne Iran to the eurasian turan Platform resulting from the convergence between the arabian and eurasian plates (taheRPouR-KhaLIL-abad, 2017;taheRPouR-KhaLIL-abad et al, 2013).…”