Re-description of Cymopolia miocenica (Karrer) (Chlorophyta, Dasycladales) from the Late Miocene of Sicily and the Middle Miocene of Banat (Romania)

Professor Giuliano Ruggieri found a rich dasyclad flora in siliciclastic sediments of a Late Miocene (lower Messinian) succession from Sicily (Petralia Sottana, Palermo). The algal remains belong to the genus Cymopolia Lamouroux (Cretaceous-Recent). Morphological and biometrical characters allow the Sicilian taxon to be attributed to Cymopolia miocenica, a species formerly described by Karrer in 1868 as Dactylopora miocenica, and known only in the Middle Miocene of the Paratethys area (Romania and Hungary). A lectotype, chosen among Karrer’s material housed in the Naturwissenschaften Museum of Vienna, is here indicated. The remains of Cymopolia miocenica consist of sterile and fertile calcareous articles. The sterile bodies are usually cylindrical, while the fertile ones are elongated to short barrel-shaped. All the articles are strongly calcified except around the outer swollen part of primary laterals of fertile whorls. The original aragonitic calcification looks still preserved, a fact probably related to the conservation in clay. The calcified structure exhibits the same pattern as in the extant species. A reconstruction of the alga is supplied