Nannotax Enabling nannofossil research

Remarks: Throughout the Neogene, discoasters can be found with blunt ray terminations, but otherwise similar morphology to co-occurring well-formed discoasters. The blunt ray-tip specimens have probably been produced both by diagenetic alteration and by original growth variation. Various species have been described to include these specimens including:

• D. aster Bramlette and Riedel 1954
• D. adamanteus Bramlette and Wilcoxon 1967
• D. andamanensis Singh & Vimal 1976
• D. argutus Hay, in HAY et al 1967
• D. lautus Hay, in HAY et al 1967
• D. obtusus Gartner 1967
• D. stellulus Gartner 1967
• D. rufus Roth 1970
• D. formosus Martini & Worsley
• D. intercalaris Bukry 1971
• D. toralus Ellis et al. 1972
• D. chambrayensis Hojjatzadeh 1978
• D. zammitmaempeli Hojjatzadeh 1978
• D. toralus Ellis et al 1972
• D. capricornensis Rade 1977
• D. gillii Rade 1977

These species have no real value and it is more sensible to assign these specimens to an explicit category such as “unidentifiable 6-rayed discoaster”.

NB Of these D. adamanteus is a relatively widely used name, appied to short rayed discoasters which have been heavily overgrown so that they show crystallogaphic calcite faces on most surfaces.