First record of Tripneustes gahardensis (Seunes, 1896) in the Oran region (northwestern Algeria)

Mohamed Belkercha¹, Mohamed Bendella², Bruno Ferré³ & Hadj Cherif Mahfoud^4
1,4Département des Sciences de la Terre et de l’Univers, Université Hassiba Benbouali de Chlef. Faculté de Génie civil et d’Architecture, Pôle Universitaire Ouled Fares, DZ-2010 Chlef, Algeria.
²Mohamed Ben Ahmed Oran 2 University, Laboratory of Basin Geodynamics and Sedimentary Balance, P.O. Box 1524, El M’Naouer, DZ-31000 Oran, Algeria.
³2 rue Guy de Maupassant, F-76800 Saint Étienne du Rouvray, France.
Corresponding author e-mail: belkercha.mohamed@yahoo.fr

Tripneustes gahardensis (Seunes, 1896) is an extinct echinoid belonging to the family Toxopneustidae, noticeable for its widespread distribution in Miocene sediments throughout the Mediterranean Basin. While this species is commonly found in France and Spain, its presence in Algeria has never been documented so far. Recent discoveries in the Oran region, specifically from the Upper Miocene deposits of a quarry near the M’sila forest at the top of Jebel Bougoug, yielded specimens now herein attributed to T. gahardensis.

Mediterranean Basin, Oran region, Algeria, Tripneustes gahardensis, Echinoids, Late Miocene, Systematics, Palaeoecology.