A revised Paleocene (Teurian) dinoflagellate cyst zonation from eastern New Zealand

• Revised New Zealand Paleocene dinocyst zonation proposed
• Eight zones, NZDP1–NZDP8, correlated with International and New Zealand Timescale
• Early and late Middle Paleocene dominated by heterotrophic dinocyst assemblages
• Three new dinocyst species described

Organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst) assemblages are documented from Paleocene (New Zealand Teurian Stage) sediments in five sections from eastern New Zealand: Tawanui, Angora Road and Toi Flat-1 core in the East Coast Basin, mid-Waipara River in the Canterbury Basin, and ODP Site 1121 on the eastern margin of Campbell Plateau. Based on dinocyst results from these sections, along with published earliest Paleocene records from the East Coast, Canterbury and Great South Basins, a revised Paleocene (Teurian) dinocyst zonation is proposed. The zones are labelled as NZDP — New Zealand Dinocyst Paleocene — and are all interval zones. The eight zones, NZDP1 to NZDP8, encompass the entire Paleocene, from the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary at 66.04 Ma to the Paleocene–Eocene boundary at 55.96 Ma. Correlation of the NZDP zones with the International and New Zealand Time Scales is provided, and is primarily based on correlation with calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy. Three new dinocyst species are described: Leptodinium? pustulatum sp. nov., Cerodinium angulatum sp. nov., and Vozzhennikovia tawanuiensis sp. nov.