Cryptopora cf. nysti ( Davidson, 1874 )

Dulai, A., 2013, Sporadic Miocene brachiopods in the Naturalis Biodiversity Center (Leiden, the Netherlands): Records from the Mediterranean, the North Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean, Fragmenta Palaeontologica Hungarica 30, pp. 15-51 : 37

Cryptopora cf. nysti ( Davidson, 1874)

( Fig. 59)

Material – Gross Pampau (2 fragmentary specimens).

Notes – This species was described from the North Sea Basin by DAVIDSON (1874). POPIEL-BARCZYK (1980) mentioned three Cryptopora species from the Miocene of eastern Poland ( C. lovisati , C. nysti , C. discites ). However, after the revision of her material BITNER & CAHUZAC (2004) identified only C. nysti in the collection of the Museum of the Earth (Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland). DULAI (submitted) also confirmed the presence of this species in the Polish Miocene on the basis of a smaller Central Paratethyan material in the NBC collection. C. nysti is known also from the Messinian of Menorca, Spain ( LLOMPART & CALZADA 1982). TOSCANO-GRANDE et al. (2010) illustrated a Cryptopora sp. from the Neogene of the Guadalquivir Basin (SW Spain), which seems to be similar to C. nysti . It was mentioned from the Miocene of France by DOLLFUS & DAUTZENBERG (1901); however, later it was not confirmed by DE MORGAN (1915). This species is easily distinguished from the other European Neogene species, C. lovisati , by the well-visible wing-like modification of the deltidial plates of the latter species.

C. nysti seems to be present in all European Miocene seas, but until now was not so frequently recorded as C. lovisati . However, its small and very fragile shells are easily overlooked in the sediments.