Homeomorphy of some benthic foraminiferal species in the Southern Tethys

Abstract

Six diagnostic Maastrichtian foraminiferal species have been recorded and illustrated from two sections Dokan and Azmer sections in the Kurdistan region, Northeast Iraq. This assemblage proposed with other species in three countries in the Southern Tethys (Tunisia, Egypt, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Pakistan) a homeomorphic phenomenon. The phenomenon known as homeomorphy, in which an organism simulates an unrelated organism in form and function. In biology the homeomorphy is the evolution of similar external forms from very distant ancestors, happening as a result of convergent evolution, while in paleontology this phenomenon means the existence of two or more fossil taxa that appear to have similar morphology, although they are unrelated, which they might occur in rather different stratigraphic levels, and the test consists of a number of chambers that arrange in numerous shapes and sizes. The present study added additional six benthic foraminiferal homeomorphy: (1) the Late Campanian Pseudoclavulina farisi Anan n. sp. and Paleocene P. hewaidyi Anan, (2) the Late Campanian Gaudryina acuta Anan n. sp. and the Danian Gaudryina limbata Said & Kenawy, (3) the Late Campanian Gaudryina jaffi Anan n. sp. and the Early Eocene G. ameeri Anan, (4) the Late Campanian Gaudryina lawai Anan n. sp. and the Early Eocene G. speijeri Anan, (5) Verneuilina iraqensis Anan n. sp. and the Early Eocene V. luxorensis Nakkady, (6) the Late Campanian Tritaxia longa Anan, n. sp. and the Early Eocene Tritaxia elongata (Haque).