Resumen de Distribución estratigráfica y consideraciones evolutivas sobre Scyphosphaera en el Mioceno Superior-Plioceno Inferior de la cuenca neógena de Alicante-Cartagena (Cordillera Bética Oriental). Parte I: Grupo S. apsteinii

Carlos Lancis Sáez, José Abel Flores Villarejo

• The first specimens of Scyphosphaera are recorded during the Early Eocene, but during the Late Miocene it is observed an increase in diversity. Although these taxa have reduced biostratigraphic significance, it is an excellent paleoenvironmental marker relatively abundant in shallow and warm waters. This fact determines abundant record in several basins, whereas in other, are almost absent. In fact, most of the 50 identified species have been described in three sedimentary basins. In the Alicante-Cartagena basin, during the Messinian, we observed a high diversity. This is the first chapter of a series of four where we show the stratigraphic distribution as well as an attempt of evolutionary trend of the most characteristic groups of Scyphosphera.