Palaeozoic record of Thaumatoporella PIA, 1927 (incertae sedis)?

From Palaeozoic (mainly Devonian) shallow-water carbonates, spherical to irregular shaped microfossils with thin, apparently homogeneous or perforate micritic walls are widely reported. They are classically referred either to unilocular parathuramminid foraminifera, algae incertae sedis or calcispheres (e.g., Bisphaera, Cribrosphaeroides, Uslonia, Vermiporella myna, Irregularina). Due to their morphology and microstructural features, they are interpreted here as possibly belonging to Thaumatoporella PIA, a widespread Mesozoic-Early Cenozoic taxon of incertae sedis showing a remarkably high morphological variability. In analogy to Mesozoic thaumatoporellaceans, Bisphaera malevkensis BIRINA is interpreted as the cyst (i.e.= resting) stage of forms ascribed to different genera, i.e., Cribrosphaeroides, Uslonia and Vermiporella (here: Vermiporella myna WRAY). Note that in the Mesozoic many taxa were also synonymized with Thaumatoporella: Polygonella ELLIOTT, Lithoporella elliotti (EMBERGER), Messopotamella DRAGASTAN et al., Vermiporella crisiae DRAGASTAN et al., Micritosphaera SCOTT. This new interpretation, based on material from the Devonian of W-Germany and the Czech Republic, leads to taxonomic reassessment as Thaumatoporella? malevkensis (BIRINA) nov. comb. As a consequence of our interpretation, the rather long Mesozoic to Early Cenozoic (Anisian? to Lutetian) record of thaumatoporellaceans is supposed to be significantly larger than formerly assumed. The possible gap of no records of thaumatoporellaceans between the Middle Carboniferous and the Lower Triassic cannot substantially be argued at the moment (Lazarus effect of one taxon?; two homeomorphic but taxonomically different taxa).