GEOLOGICA CARPATHICA, 51, 2, BRATISLAVA, APRIL 2000 101107 ROVEACRINUS BERTHOUI NOV. SP., EARLY HAUTERIVIAN REPRESENTATIVE OF ROVEACRINIDAE (ROVEACRINIDA, CRINOIDEA) OF BUSOT (ALICANTE, SPAIN) BRUNO FERRÉ 1 and BRUNO GRANIER 2 1 2 rue Guy de Maupassant, F-76800 Saint Étienne du Rouvray, France; bruno-ferre@wanadoo.fr. 2* TOTAL Scientific and Technical Center, TEP/DE/CST/G-CARB, Domaine de Beauplan, Route de Versailles, F-78470 Saint Rémy lès Chevreuse, France (Manuscript received December 3, 1998; accepted in revised form December 12, 1999) Abstract: A new roveacrinid microcrinoid, Roveacrinus berthoui nov. sp., is described from the Lower Hauterivian marly limestones at Busot (Alicante, SE Spain). It represents the first record of this family from pre-Albian strata, and as such, constitutes a major stratigraphic and taxonomic advance in our knowledge of this unusual fossil crinoid group. Key words: Cretaceous, Hauterivian, Spain, Alicante, Echinodermata, Roveacrinida, Roveacrinidae. Introduction In the province of Alicante (SE Spain), Mesozoic series crop out due to structural anomalies referred to extrusions à noyau dur (Polvêche 1963). In the Prebetic and Subbetic domains, the Hauterivian series are usually incomplete and condensed, in contrast to the relatively thick series devel- oped at Busot (Fig. 1; Granier 1993). This is explained by the peculiar position of this locality at the edge of the Berriasian platform. During the Early Valanginian, an important trans- gressive wedge related to the platform flexure and subse- quent drowning developed at the edge, on the slope basin- wards and far beyond (Busot, Fig. 2). During the Late ValanginanHauterivian interval, the initiation of block-tilt- ing induced condensation and/or erosion phenomena on the one hand, particularly on local highs, and sediment trapping in grabens and/or half-grabens on the other (Fig. 2). Such an environment favoured the preservation of Hauterivian de- posits at Busot. Twenty kilometres NNE of Alicante, the village of Busot is located at the SW end of a Mesozoic belt called bande à anomalies structurales de Busot-Altea (Granier 1987). There, Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian to Aptian) deposits crop out within a hardcore extrusion com- plex. South of the village, two Cretaceous hills consist of Hauterivian marly limestones. These bioclastic carbonates with wackestone texture yield abundant small benthic fora- minifers, echinoderm fragments, ammonites and calpionel- lids as autochthonous assemblage components. They also contain reworked, worn and micritized microfossils, mostly large benthic foraminifers and calcareous algae. However, reworking is limited and neither slumps nor conglomerates have yet been documented. While the wackestone marly limestone displays a micritic matrix, the high-magnesium calcite (HMC) network of the echinoderm ossicles does not appear to have been affected by overgrowth or syntaxial cement. If micritization or corrosion of the echinoderm ossicles should occur, it is only moderate and does not alter noticeably the morphology of the HMC section considered below, nor its subsequent reconstruction. No additional ossicles were found in the numerous thin sections processed to further document this new species. De- structive petrophysical measurements on the original sub- sample made any further research of conspecific plates by se- rial sections impossible. Our attempt to extract additional material from the original field sample was unsuccessful: the washing residues were devoid of any other thecal plate *Present address: PDD/GEOL 7W4, ADMA-OPCO, P.O. Box 303, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; bgranier@adma.co.ae Fig. 1. Map showing the location of the study area (SE Spain).