The upper Bedoulian and lower Gargasian Ostracoda of the Aptian stratotype: Taxonomy and biostratigraphic correlation

In the vicinity of Saint-Saturnin-les-Apt (Vaucluse, SE France), which is included in the area of the historic Aptian stratotype of Apt-Gargas, are four sections in a succession that permits the study in a very detailed and continuous way of the last beds of the upper Bedoulian and those of the lower Gargasian. The Ostracod content of the microfauna is relatively important and in a satisfactory state of preservation. 46 species have been indexed of which three are new: Cytherella circumrugosa nov. sp., Cytherelloidea bedouliana nov. sp. and Parexophthalmocythere (Parexophthalmocythere) sp. Until the present day, our comprehension of this group of microfossils in this stratigraphic interval was very fragmentary, not just in the Apt region but also in the Bedoulian historic stratotype area (Cassis-la Bedoule). This new study made it possible to determine a good number of species not previously reported in the stratotypes, to refine the generic status of many forms and to place some of them in open nomenclature. The completion of a chronologic distribution chart collated with a recently published foraminiferal zonation (Cabri, Luterbacheri and Ferreolensis zones) shows very clearly the bipartite distribution of a good part of the Ostracod fauna. Accordingly, two ensembles are recognized, one at the end of the upper Bedoulian (index species Protocythere bedoulensis), the other characterizing the lower Gargasian, identified by the appearance and development of Parataxodonta inornata. The two groups are sharply separated by an episode of impoverished microfaunas at the base of the Gargasian.