Abstract
The new genus Aramazdospirifer n. gen. (Cyrtospiriferidae) is erected to include Spirifer orbelianus Abich, 1858 from the lower Famennian of Central Armenia as its type species and to refute long-standing claims related to the affinities of the latter. The micro-ornament and internal structure of this species are investigated and documented for the first time, on the basis of recently collected material from the Ertych horizon of three different sections. Additionally, a neotype is selected for Abich’s species as the type material is lost. Aramazdospirifer orbelianus (Abich, 1858) n. comb. is a biostratigraphically important species for the lower Famennian strata of the Lesser Caucasus. It appears to be restricted to the South-Armenian Block; reports outside this Gondwanan area are discussed and discarded.
Highlights
The Upper Devonian sedimentary sequences of Armenia are highly fossiliferous and contain a diverse and well-preserved brachiopod fauna (Abrahamyan 1957, 1964, 1974; Arakelyan 1964; Serobyan et al 2021), which remains largely undocumented from a taxonomic and biostratigraphic point of view
Due to its great potential for biostratigraphic correlations of lower Famennian successions throughout the Lesser Caucasus, re-investigation of S. orbelianus is a necessary task as its affinities at the genus level still remain unclear, in spite of the extensive taxonomic studies led by Abrahamyan (1957, 1974) and Afanasjeva
It comes from marly limestones and shales of the lower Famennian Ertych h orizon (Fig. 2), which can be correlated with the ‘Cyrtospirifer’ orbelianus Zone of Abrahamyan (1957) and the ‘Cyrtiopsis’ orbelianus-Cyrtiopsis armenicus Zone of Rzhonsnitskaya & Mamedov (2000)
Summary
The Upper Devonian sedimentary sequences of Armenia are highly fossiliferous and contain a diverse and well-preserved brachiopod fauna (Abrahamyan 1957, 1964, 1974; Arakelyan 1964; Serobyan et al 2021), which remains largely undocumented from a taxonomic and biostratigraphic point of view. Abich (1858) described a number of new brachiopod species from the Lesser Caucasus, notably the spiriferid species Spirifer orbelianus Abich, 1858. The latter was erroneously reported afterwards in the Franco-Belgian Basin by Gosselet (1874), and later in different parts of the world (see Sartenaer 1974 for a review, and references below). Due to its great potential for biostratigraphic correlations of lower Famennian successions throughout the Lesser Caucasus, re-investigation of S. orbelianus is a necessary task as its affinities at the genus level still remain unclear, in spite of the extensive taxonomic studies led by Abrahamyan (1957, 1974) and Afanasjeva (in Alekseeva et al 2018a). The purpose of the present study is to reassess the taxonomy of S. orbelianus on the basis of recently collected material from the lower Famennian of Central Armenia, with implications for its palaeobiogeographic distribution
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