The ammonites Karakaschiceras and Neohoploceras (Valanginian Neocomitidae) from the Neuquen Basin, West-Central Argentina

Abstract

Three species of Karakaschiceras, K. attenuatus (Behrendsen, 1892), K. neumayri (Behrendsen, 1892), and K. lycoris (Leanza and Giovine, 1949), and one species of Neohoploceras, N. arnoldi (Pictet and Campiche, 1860), are described and figured from the Valanginian strata of the Neuquén basin in west-central Argentina. The large collection of fossils available for study shows wide intraspecific variation regarding ornament and whorl section in Karakaschiceras neumayri and Neohoploceras arnoldi, casting some doubts on the current systematics applied to species of these genera. The biostratigraphic position of the four species in the Neuquén basin corresponds to the Karakaschiceras attenuatus Subzone of the Olcostephanus atherstoni Zone. This subzone is correlated with the Mediterranean Karakaschiceras inostranzewi and Saynoceras verrucosum zones of Europe at the base of upper Valanginian sections.