Palaeoenvironmental distribution of the Rhaetian dinoflagellate cysts Dapcodinium priscum EVITT, 1961, emend. Below, 1987 and Rhaetogonyaulax rhaetica (SARJEANT) LOEBLICH and LOEBLICH, 1976, emend. Harland et al., 1975, emend. Below, 1987

In almost all Rhaetian marine assemblages of the Tethyan Realm, two dinoflagellate cyst species, Dapcodinium priscum EVITT, 1961, emend. Below, 1987, and Rhaetogonyaulax rhaetica (SARJEANT) LOEBLICH and LOEBLICH, 1976, emend. Harland et al., 1975, emend. Below 1987 are dominant. Thus, when one is relatively frequent the other scarce and vice versa. This paper considers the inverse relationship of the two species in 235 rock samples taken from Rhaetian strata well exposed along the western margin of the Mesozoic intracratonic basin of south-eastern France. The palynological variables recorded from the samples (seven types of phytoclasts and three marine taxa: D. priscum, R. rhaetica and micrhystridids) were submitted to principal components analysis, which shows that D. priscum occurs in deposits that reflect nearshore and restricted marine environments. R. rhaetica is indicative of more marine environments at greater water depth, as indicated by the relatively high proportions of buoyant needle-like phytoclasts. These observations suggest that D. priscum is the cyst of an opportunistic, euryhaline dinoflagellate taxon that occupied various ecological niches while R. rhaetica inhabited more normal open marine environments. The palaeoenvironmental distribution seems to have been influenced by the energy level of the water column. D. priscum is found in deposits that denote high to low energy while R. rhaetica is found in low energy sediments. Micrhystridid occurrences are similar to those of D. priscum; they are uncommon when the abundance of R. rhaetica increases.