'The fossil flora of Kachchh, IV- Tertiary, palynostratigraphy' by Ranjit K. Kar (1985): A critique on dinoflagellate cysts

Abstract

The Tertiary dinoflagellate cyst assemblages described from Kutch (Kar, 1985) have been critically re-evaluated. All available figured specimens of Early Eocene, Oligocene and Miocene assemblages have been restudied, most of these are rephotographed and reproduced herein, discussing morphological features for their proper taxonomic assessment and reallocation. The four new species, viz., Areoligera digitata, Cleistosphaeridium cephalum, Operculodinium paucispinosum, and O. robustum, proposed therein have been rejected. Two new combinations, viz., Apteodinium unicornum (Kar) and Operculodinium ornamentum (Jain & Tandon) and a new species Glaphyrocysta indica are proposed. An assessment of various palynozonation schemes revealed major lacunae in the presentation of stratigraphic and palynological data as well as several inconsistencies in the given charts, histograms and their descriptions in the text. It has been recommended that these zonation schemes should be used with caution for comparison and correlation purposes. The status of systematic descriptions of Middle Eocene and Oligocene dinoflagellate cyst taxa transcribed by Kar (1985) from Jain and Tandon (1981) and Jain (1980) has been discussed exemplifying several unexpected errors, inconsistencies and ambiguities. It is recommended that the readers should consult original papers of reproduced versions for correct citations and understanding.