Pseudosonninia, a new genus of oppeliid ammonite (Haploceratoidea) from the Callovian (Middle Jurassic) of the Neuquén Basin, Argentina

Abstract

From the uppermost part of the Los Molles Formation (upper Lower and lower Middle Callovian) in Chacay Melehué (Neuquén Province, Argentina), a group of hecticoceratine ammonites with a conspicuous morphology not assimilable to any known genus of this subfamily has been recently discovered. These forms are inflated oxycones with a prominent, sharp keel developed from the juvenile phragmocone up to the adult peristome. The new genus Pseudosonninia is established on the basis of these ammonites, with Pseudosonninia chacaymelehuensis n. gen. n. sp. as its type species. The new genus seems to be endemic to the Neuquén Basin and is recorded here from the upper Lower and lower Middle Callovian of Chacay Melehué and Río de Los Patos.