Operculodinium centrocarpum (Deflandre & Cookson) Wall

7. Operculodinium centrocarpum (Deflandre & Cookson) Wall

( Fig. 3A–C View Figure 3 )

Spheroidal cyst, with laevigate or finely granulated surface. Fine, elongate capitate processes, densely distributed over the entire surface. Archeopyle formed by loss of the third precingular plate ( Sarjeant, 1974). Diameter (including projections) ca. 54–70 µm (x 60 µm). Ecological data: marine, cosmopolitan dinocyst found from estuaries to areas beyond the continental slope ( Wall et al., 1977). Used as an index to ancient shoreline positions on the southern Brazilian coastal plain (Lorscheittter, 1983; Lorscheitter & Romero, 1985; Cordeiro & Lorscheitter, 1994; Lorscheitter & Dillenburg, 1998; Lorscheitter, 2003; Masetto & Lorscheitter, 2019; Roth et al., 2021).