The ‘Pseudocrioceras interval’ and adjacent beds at La Bédoule (SE France): implications to highest Barremian/lowest Aptian biostratigraphy

Biostratigraphical investigation of the marly limestones of the La Bédoule area (SE France) has revealed a rich macrofaunal interval in four different sections, mainly consisting of the ammonite genera Pseudocrioceras and Barremites. A detailed study of the immediately under- and over-lying beds shows that in all four sections, the Pseudocrioceras interval, unambiguously equivalent to the Pseudocrioceras coquandi Zone of Busnardo (1984), occurs stratigraphically between a late Barremian heteroceratid fauna (Colchidites aff. tsholashensis (Rouchadze), Martelites aff. vulanensis (Egoian), Simionescites aff. simionescui Avram) of the Martelites sarasini Zone (Hoedemaeker et al., 1993) and an earliest Aptian deshayesitid fauna (Deshayesites antiquus Bogdanova, D. oglanlensis Bogdanova, D. weissiformis Bogdanova) of the Dehayesites tuarkyricus Zone (Bogdanova, 1983). These new data should play a critical role in the definition of the Barremian/Aptian boundary.