New species of dinoflagellate cysts from the Bou Regreg Core: A Miocene-Pliocene boundary section on the Atlantic Coast of Morocco

The Bou Regreg borehole section is situated a few kilometers north of Rabat, in northwestern Morocco, at the western end of the Rifian Corridor. The Bou Regreg core penetrates 185 m of Late Miocene to Pliocene marls (chrones 7 to Gilbert). Palynological study of 180 samples from the core revealed extremely abundant and diverse dinocyst assemblages. In contrast, spore and pollen assemblages were sparse. The purpose of this paper is to document one new genus and seven new species of dinocysts, including: Capisocysta wallii Warny et Wrenn, gen. et sp. nov., Hystrichosphaeropsis somphosa Warny et Wrenn, sp. nov., Impletospheridum acropora Warny et Wrenn, sp. nov., Operculodinium floridium Warny et Wrenn, sp. nov., O. oriensum sp. nov., Spiniferites falcipedius Warny et Wrenn, sp. nov. and Barssidinium olymposa Warny et Wrenn, sp. nov. The occurrence of some of these taxa in correlative sections (in the Gulf of Mexico, in the Caribbean Sea etc.) suggest that they are biostratigraphically useful for correlation (Warny and Wrenn, 1996).