Abstract
Articulated echinoderm remains are described for the first time in the Ordovician of Turkey. They occur massively, forming a relatively thick cystoid bed within the detrital limestone succession of the Sobova Formation (latest Dapingianearliest Darriwilian) in the western Taurus Mountains. The cystoid bed encompasses a monospecific echinoderm assemblage of densely packed, 3-dimensionally preserved thecae. The presence of numerous suborganised plates with diplopore respiratory structures suggests probable affinities with sphaeronitid blastozoans. Comparable sphaeronitid dense beds are well known in the early Darriwilian of Baltica, and in the mid Darriwilian of the Middle East and Asian terranes.
Highlights
Along with brachiopods, molluscs, and trilobites, echinoderms are a major component of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event in Middle and Late Ordovician times (Sprinkle and Guensburg, 2004; Lefebvre et al, 2013)
This observation is largely true as far as periGondwanan echinoderms are concerned: most data on Mid-Ordovician echinoderm assemblages are from highlatitude regions (e.g., Czech Republic, France, Morocco, Spain; Barrande, 1887; Chauvel, 1941, 1966; GutiérrezMarco et al, 1984) and to a lesser extent from low-latitude areas (e.g., Burma, China, Thailand; Bather, 1906; Reed, 1917; Sun, 1936, 1948)
Very little is known on periGondwanan echinoderm assemblages from intermediate palaeolatitudes, and in particular from the Middle East
Summary
First report of sphaeronitid blastozoans (Echinodermata) in the Middle Ordovician of the Taurides, Turkey. Elise NARDIN1,*, Mehmet Cemal GÖNCÜOĞLU2, Bertrand LEFEBVRE3 1UMR 5563 Géosciences Environnement Toulouse, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, CNRS, Toulouse, France
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