The first finding of reliable Jurassic radiolarians in the Crimea

Abstract

Radiolarians of Leugeonidae Yang et Wang, 1990, which represent a morphologically distinctive group of spherical radiolarians of the Spumellaria order, were found for the first time in Crimea and reliably confirm the Jurassic age of the finding. The nodules, which host the Jurassic radiolarians, were collected by A.S. Alekseev in 1983 in the terrigenous sequence of the Lozovskaya tectonic zone. The radiolarian assemblage in the nodules includes Levileugeo ordinarius Yang et Wang, Triactoma jonesi Pessagno, Pseudocrucella aff. prava Blome, Paronella kotura Baumgartner, P. ex gr. mulleri Pessagno, and Praeconocaryomma sp. The Levileugeo genus is easily identified due to its unique hexagonal element, which is typical only of the Jurassic, in particular, Upper Bajocian–Lower Tithonian radiolarians.