Alicantina, a new eocene planktonic foraminiferal genus for the lozanoi group

The lozanoi group appeared in the early Eocene and includes two taxa, Globigerina prolata Bolli, 1957, characterized by a globigerinid test, and Globigerina lozanoi Colom, 1954, which is distinguished by having 5-6 globular chambers in the final whorl that tend to increase the height of the coiling axis to a medium-high trochospire and an intraumbilical aperture that tends to extend extraumbilically. The two species both possess a non-spinose, irregularly cancellate wall texture (dutertrei-type) very similar to the praemuricate-type typical of the Paleocene genus Praemurica Olsson et al., 1992. However, the stratigraphic gap and the lack of intermediate morphotypes between the two groups suggest that the lozanoi group evolved independently from a different ancestor. Therefore, Alicantina n. Gen. Is here proposed to accommodate the species lozanoi and prolata, the ancestor of which is presently unknown.