KENYAESTHERIA, A NEW GENUS OF CONCHOSTRACA FROM THE LOWER TRIASSIC OF KENYA

The new genus Kenyaestheria assigned to the family Ulugkemiidae was collected from the Upper Maji ya Chumvi Formation in the Scott Borehole, Maji ya Chumvi of Kenya. It is characterized by possessing a carapace, the last few growth lines of which forming an incurvature at the postero-dorsal margin and with radial linear sculpture. The ulugkemiids are an extinct group ranging from the Middle Devonian to the Upper Triassic. The Paleozoic forms were lived in Eurasia. The Late Triassic Triasulugkernia was reported from Argentina. The new genus is the first record from the Early Triassic and the second record in the southern continents for this group. Both spore-pollen Lunatisporites pellucidus and conchostracan Aquilonoglypta-Cornia-Palaeolirnnadia-Falsisca assemblages indicate that the conchostracan-bearing beds are of early Early Triassic in age.

Project Supported:

Clc Number:

P534.51 P534.53