Short communication Cantabriconus? meridionalis n. sp., a new orbitoliniform benthic foraminifera from the lower Aptian of the Res ¸ itaeMoldova Nou  a zone, Romania Felix Schlagintweit a, * , Ioan I. Bucur b a Lerchenauerstr. 167, München, D-80935, Germany b Babes ¸-Bolyai University, Department of Geology and Center for Integrated Geological Studies, Str. M. Kog alniceanu 1, Cluj-Napoca, 400084, Romania article info Article history: Received 9 July 2019 Received in revised form 7 September 2019 Accepted in revised form 10 September 2019 Available online 14 September 2019 Keywords: Coskinolinidae Orbitolinidae Lower Cretaceous Systematics Southern Capathians Biostratigraphy abstract A new complex larger benthic Foraminifera is described as Cantabriconus? meridionalis n. sp. (?Family Coskinolinidae Moullade) from lower Aptian Urgonian-type shallow-water carbonates of the Res ¸ ita e Moldova Nou a zone, southwestern part of Romania. In the literature this form has been assigned to both genera Falsurgonina Arnaud-Vanneau & Argot and Montseciella Cherchi & Schroeder. With its prominent, eccentric initial trochospire, undivided marginal zone, and pillars in the central zone it cannot be included either in the genera Falsurgonina Arnaud-Vanneau & Argot, nor Urgonina Foury & Moullade, or even Montseciella Cherchi & Schroeder. Due to some doubts about the wall structure (solid or pseudo-keriothecal?), the form is here tentatively assigned to the genus Cantabriconus Schlagintweit et al. becoming its possibly third representative apart from the type-species C. reocinianus (upper Aptianelowermost Albian of Spain, type-species), and C. altaretae (Arnaud-Vanneau) (lower Barremian). © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The Urgonian limestones from the Res ¸ ita e Moldova Nou a Zone, Southern Carpathians of Romania, developed on a large carbonate platform with different facies from marginal reef to platform interior with abundant microbiota consisting mainly of dasycla- dalean algae and benthic foraminifera (Bucur, 1997). The diverse associations of dasycladaleans and other calcareous algae have already been described in earlier papers (e.g., Bucur, 1994, 2002). However, the rich assemblage of benthic foraminifera was not described in detail so far. Research carried out in recent years allowed the identification of the new complex larger benthic foraminifera Banatia aninensis (Schlagintweit and Bucur, 2017), and the emendation of a species known since decades as a doubtful representative of the genus Paracoskinolina Moullade, namely Moulladella jourdanensis (Foury & Rat) (Bucur and Schlagintweit, 2018). In the present contribution, a new larger agglutinating conical Foraminifera is described as Cantabriconus? meridionalis n. sp. (Family Coskinolinidae?) from these limestones. 2. Geological setting The Res ¸ it ¸ a-Moldova Nou a Zone is situated in the south- western part of the South Carpathians of Romania. It is a struc- tural unit of the Getic domain or Getic Nappe (S andulescu, 1984) (Fig. 1). The sedimentary deposits of this zone consist of Upper Paleozoic (Carboniferous and Permian) and Mesozoic (Jurassic- eLower Cretaceous) formations (N ast aseanu, 1964; Bucur, 1997). The Lower Cretaceous deposits are represented by pelagic calpionellid-bearing limestones and marls (Marila and Crivina formations, upper Tithonian-lower Valanginian), slope lime- stones (Valea Lindinei Member, lower part of the Plopa Formation, upper Valanginian-Hauterivian), carbonate platform limestones (Valea Nerei Member, upper part of the Plopa Formation, lower Barremian), carbonate platform limestones with marly in- tercalations (Valea Minis ¸ ului Formation, upper Barremian-middle Aptian), and flysch-like glauconitic sandstones and shales (Valea Golumbului and Valea Radimnei formations, uppermost AptianeAlbian (Bucur, 1997; Fig.2). * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: felix.schlagintweit@gmx.de (F. Schlagintweit), ioan.bucur@ ubbcluj.ro (I.I. Bucur). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Cretaceous Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/CretRes https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104250 0195-6671/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Cretaceous Research 106 (2020) 104250