MONCHARMONTIA DE CASTRO, 1967, FLEURYANA DE CASTRO ET AL., 1994 AND SOLAKIANA GEN. NOV.: A SPECIAL GROUP OF BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA FROM UPPER CRETACEOUS SHALLOW-WATER CARBONATES

Moncharmontia De Castro (type-species M. apenninica) and Fleuryana De Castro et al. (type-species F. adriatica) represent two exclusively Upper Cretaceous genera of relatively small-sized benthic foraminifera with similar morphology and wall structure but distinguished primarily by the type of the aperture/foramina (multiple cribrate versus a single, central, arched slit piercing the septum). Solakiana gen. nov. (type-species Fleuryana gediki Solak et al.) differs from both taxa by its type of aperture, represented by a basal slit bordered at the base by the external wall of the previous whorl. Apertural/foraminal lips or septal plates are present in all three genera. The canaliculate wall-structure, well preserved in Moncharmontia and Fleuryana but poorly preserved in Solakiana, refer them tentatively to the family Charentiidae Loeblich & Tappan. The three genera are widely reported from neritic carbonates spanning the Cenomanian-Maastrichtian interval, each with different stratigraphic ranges. The group became extinct at the K-Pg boundary