Sl41

Spirema melonia Haeckel?

Spirema melonia Haeckel, 1887, p. 692, pl.49,fig. 1

DESCRIPTION: Shell smooth-walled, ellipsoidal or subspherical depending on orientation. In the elliptical view, shell displays spiral convolutions,often a double spiral. In the subspherical view rings appear to be concentric. Radial beams do not pierce outer shell. Pore small subcircular, arranged irregularly. (Gail Lombari, unpublished data).

DIMENSIONS: Based on 12 specimens; elliptical view: major axis 88-98 microns, minor axis 74-94 microns; spherical view, diameter 78-84 microns. (Gail Lombari, unpublished data).

REMARKS:

1. Tholospira (?) sp. 3 in Sachs (1973) is thought to be conspecific although the dimensions given by him are much larger.

Plate 17, figure 7

S142

RECENT DISTRIBUTION

1. Sachs, 1973, Code 33I (Tholospira (?) sp. 3); "The form is widely distributed, to less than 5% of total fauna. ... loads most on the bottom-influenced factor, with a lesser Southern (Transitional) influence [than Tholospira (?) sp. 2]." Southern is south of about 45 degrees N.

2. Molina-Cruz, 1975, Code S28; not used in factor analysis of southeast Pacific assemblages; cf. Appendix 10 for percent S28 at each station.

3. Robertson, 1975; "The species loads most heavily in factor 3 (transitional). It is widely distributed with low abundances throughout the study area at the present but is absent in the Bering Sea and Sea of Okhotsk. There may be an expansion of the region where it is absent at 18,000 YBP but the area is poorly defined".