First record of a Hirnantia Fauna from Spain, and its contribution to the Late Ordovician palaeogeography of northern Gondwana

Abstract

AbstractA new occurrence of the Hirnantia brachiopod fauna is documented from the Criadero Quartzite of Almadén, Ciudad Real Province, Spain. This unit is the regional development of a largely unfossiliferous sandy facies that frequently overlies the typical Late Ordovician diamictitic glaciomarine formations in the Iberian Peninsula and the Armorican Massif. The new occurrence establishes palaeontologically the latest Ashgill age of the quartzite, at least for its lowest horizons, and adds new data on a fauna that, although widespread, has been very rarely documented from peri-Gondwanan Europe. The new collection contains only Hirnantia sagittifera and Plectothyrella crassicosta chauveli. The subspecific status of the latter and its inclusion within Plectothyrella crassicosta is discussed herein, based on the continuous variation in rib thickness of several samples of both forms. The extremely low diversity and the occurrence of the key form P. c. chauveli, are both typical of the Bani Province that developed on the subpolar margins of Gondwana. This contrasts with other occurrences of the Hirnantia Fauna in peri-Gondwanan Europe, such as those from Sardinia and the Carnic Alps, which are characteristic of the more temperate Kosov Province.