Matskási István (szerk.): A Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum évkönyve 79. (Budapest 1987)

Kecskeméti, T.: Contributions to the phylogenetic connections of Nummulites species

lowed along a direct line, in Late Cuisian time, by typical TV. partschi showing a more distinct granulation. N. partschi grani

fer is a form of rather wide variability. Several species or subspecies are indicated in phylogenetic schemes as having been differentiated from it. A directline descendant of the ancient form, N. partschi gave rise to the lorioli lineage, collateral N. bactchisaraiensis did so to the gizehensis lineage (HOTTINGER, LEHMANN & SCHAUB 1964; BLONDEAU 1972), whereas N. partschi aequalispira, form developing along the same collateral line, shows a phylogenetic trend towards the fabianii lineage (NEMKOV 1967). In the uppermost interval of the Cuisian, one more taxon got separated from N. partschi; it was N. aff. partschi which is more specialized than N. partschi and which has been found in the author's fauna from Devecser (KECSKEMÉTI 1973). It was not followed by any more highly developed form of higher stratigraphie position, thus being regarded as a phylogenetic "dead-end" of the collateral branch. The other lineages continued their development, undergoing a renewal in Lutetian time. It was along the direct praelorioli

—lorioli lineage that this renewal lasted for the shortest time. Its members exist merely in the lower half of the Lutetian. The distinct resemblances of the taxa suggest fresh relations, looking back to no remote traditions. N. praelorioli, form of earlier appearance, is important from the phylogenetic point of view, N. lorioli that developed from the former is so rather stratigraphically N. boussaci resembles to both the lorioli type (loosely coiled spire, thick marginal cord, spacing of septa) and the gizehensis type evolving along an adjacent line (meandering septal lines, more intricate reticulation) (ROZLOZSNIK 1929). On the basis of these features, it is intermediate between N. lorioli and N. gizehensis. Its connections with these two species are so strong as to suggest that the separation of TV. boussaci from among them or more probably from their common ancestor (the uncertainty is indicated here by its being placed on a separate lineage and by a question mark) could not take place earlier than the Cuisian/Lutetian boundary. A line of longer stratigraphie range is represented by the gizehensis lineage ; successive to one another or developing in parallel, its members are found practically throughout the Middle Eocene. Its Lower Lutetian form is an N. gizehensis of small size (TV. gizehensis petit; sensu SCHAUB in: HOTTINGER, LEHMANN & SCHAUB 1964). It was probably from this taxon of primitive granulation and spire that the typical N. gizehensis, a form of great size, evolved, through N. gizehensis laszloi (ROZLOZSNIK 1929), as early as Late Lutetian time. It was followed by the mostly giant-sized, heavily specialized (occasionally even overspccialized, exhibiting already some features of degeneration as well) end-form of the lineage, N. lyelli. With it, the gizehensis lineage reached its culmination in the final Late Lutetian, to undergo then a sudden decline and get extinct still in Mid-Eocene time. ROZLOZSNIK (1927) separated, within the gizehensis group, N. gizehensis tatabanyáé

nsis as well. Because of its being limited to a narrow area (the Tatabánya Basin), this taxon, having the same stratigraphie range as N. gizehensis .laszloi, is considered to be a local taxon formed under particular ecological conditions. Another local species, occurring only in the Tatabánya Basin, is, in the author's opinion, N. bockhi the characters of which suggest a very distant relationship with partschi (ROZLOZSNIK 1927, p. 49). Known from the final Late Lutetian, this taxon has been indicated with a question mark in the author's scheme; for nothing is known about its earlier Lutetian history and connections. The lineage that persisted for the longest time is that of reticulate praefabianli — fabianii — intermedins. After some earlier

—not sufficiently well founded phylogenetic assignations (planulatus — laevigatus — brongniartilineage: D'ARCHIAC &HAIME, 1853; GABRIELJAN 1957 ; striatus lineage: DOUVILLÉ 1919; ABRARD 1928), latest studies have made it obvious that the ancestor of the species belonging to this lineage must be looked for in the N. partschi group. The striking conformity of the pincipal characters of the Cuisian N. partschi and the Late Lutetian N. praefabianli (marked pillars at the intersection of septal lines and marginal