A NEW MOSCOVIAN FORAMINIFERAL FAUNA FROM HUAI-LUANG, EAST OF WANG-SAPHUNG, CHANGWAT-LOEI, NORTHEAST THAILAND

The unusual rarity of Fusulinella species is one of the most interesti ng characteristics among the known Moscovian foraminiferal faunas in T hailand. Earlier an occurrence of Fusulinella bocki von Moller was doc umented in Northeast Thailand but with neither description nor illustr ation. For the first time, we have recently discovered a small foramin iferal fauna characterized by two Fusulinella species (F. bocki von Mo ller and F. praebocki Rauser-Chernoussova) from a limestone collected at Huai Luang, about 5 km east of Wang Saphung, Changwat Loei, Northea st Thailand, where the Fusulina pulchella fauna was reported previousl y. Geological evidence suggests that our foraminiferal fauna most cert ainly came from the strata referable to the Fusulina pulchella Zone al though F. pulchella Gryzlova is absent from our fauna. The present dis covery of a Fusulinella-bearing foraminiferal fauna from Huai Luang, i ndicative of a Late Moscovian age (most probably to the Myachkovsky Ho rizon in the Russian standard scheme), provides important data to clar ify the faunal composition of the Fusulina pulchella Zone and to compa re the Late Moscovian foraminiferal faunal affinity in the Loei-Wang S aphung area with those of the type and reference sections. In this pap er, six species of fusulinaceans are described, and coexisting smaller foraminifers are listed and illustrated. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd