Brachiopod Taxa Research Articles

Molluscan and brachiopod taxa introduced by F. W. Hutton inThe New Zealand journal of science

Zoological taxa introduced by Hutton in The New Zealand journal of science are listed. These comprise eight genera and 83 species of molluscs, and one species of brachiopod. All but one of these names fulfil the criteria for availability under the International Code for Zoological Nomenclature, though most have been overlooked and attributed to later publications by the same author.

Distribution of some Campanian and Maastrichtian macrofaunas in southeast Spain

The distribution of Campanian-Maastrichtian species of inoceramids, ammonites, echinoids and brachiopods is given for 23 fossil sites in the Internal Prebetic and Intermediate Units of the Betic Range in Alicante province, southeast Spain. Six main units (1-6) are recognized in the stratigraphical sections used as a reference to correlate the fossil sites of the Internal Prebetic. Four different lithologies (A-D) are distinguished in the Quipar-Jorquera Formation, the only unit surveyed in the Late Cretaceous outcrops of the Intermediate Units. 57 inoceramid, 8 ammonite, 15 echinoid and 2 brachiopod taxa have been identified and are listed in a table indicating the relative positions of their appearances at each locality. Some biostratigraphical and palaeobiogeographical observations are made on the identified species of inoceramids, ammonites and echinoids.

Caradoc through Early AshgillBrachiopods from the Central-Iberian zone (Central Spain)

Caradoc through early Ashgill brachiopods from the Central-Iberian Zone, representing the latest cold water brachiopodassociations of the West European Platform developed on the North-African Gondwana margin, have been studied. Twenty one brachiopod taxa, including two new species (Tafilaltia brevimusculosa and Hedstroemina almadenensis), collected from stratigraphic sections in Corral de Calatrava, Almadén, Guadalupe and Valencia de Alcántara (Ciudad Real and Cáceres provinces in Spain) are described and their stratigraphic significance is assessed. The oldest brachiopods studied, from the ironstone above the “Neseuretus Sandstone” and the basal “Cantera Shales”, are considered coeval with those from the Soudleyan iron oolite widely spread in Ibero-Armorica. The youngest brachiopods have been collected from the uppermost “Bancos Mixtos” and the “Calymenella Quartzite”, of Pusgillian age. All those associations are dominated by Mediterranean forms of the families Heterorthidae, Draboviidae, Orthostrophiinae and Aegiromeninae, but the highest horizons of the “Bancos Mixtos” have also yielded rare occurrences of forms more typical of the northern temperate continents (Strophomenidae, Sowerbyellinae, Leptestiidae) within a typically Mediterranean association. Those northern forms are considered to represent a first pulse of immigration, occurring shortly before the environmental turnover that promoted the final replacement of the cold waters associations by the Nicolella Community across the West European Platform.

Brachiopodes du Jurassique inférieur et moyen du Kef Sidi Amar – Massif Culminant de lʼOuarsenis (Algérie du Nord)

From the upper part of the allochtonous and autochtonous sediments of the Kef Sidi Amar limestone Formation from the hill Kef Sidi Amar and the nearby hills were found and described the following brachiopod taxa: Dispiriferina davidsoni, Gibbirhynchia orsinii, Lobothyris sphenoidalis, Fimbriothyris gueranqueri – species often in Sicily, South France, Marocco, etc. together with the Northwestern European taxa of Liospiriferina alpina alpina, Lobothyris subpunctata, Zeilleria quadrifida cornuta, Z. indentata. The allochtonous grey-dark biodetritic limestones of the Roubia Formation ill the hill Kef Sidi Amar yielded brachiopods in three labels. From the stratigraphically lowermost bed (the section of the Jurassic in Kef Sidi Amar is overturned) were found only Stolmorhynchia bouchardi; from the middle bed came Homoeorhynchia delancei, Tetrarhynchia subconcinna, Sphaeroidothyris decipiens, Telothyris jauberti, Aulacothyris resupinata agnata, Zeilleria lycetti – all of them Early Toarcian in age. In the stratigraphically uppermost part of Roubia formation were found the Bajocian species Sphaeroidothyris sphaeroidalis together with Zeilleria cf. lycetti. The brachiopods in the Roubia Formation are often in NW Europe. This succession of Mediterranean and North-West European brachiopods is caused probably by the succession of the palaeogeographic conditions rather than succession of bioprovinces.

The first Lower Palaeozoic fauna proved from South Africa

A fauna is described from the Cedarberg Formation of the Table Mountain Group, western Cape Province. New taxa of brachiopods are Trematis taljaardi sp. nov., Marklandella africana sp. nov., Eostropheodonta discumbata sp. nov., and Plectothyrella haughtoni sp. nov. These indicate an age close to the Ordivician–Silurian boundary. This is the first Lower Palaeozoic fauna to be found in Africa south of the Sahara.

The Shell of Devonian Atrypida (Brachiopoda)

AbstractA simple visual method for distinguishing important Devonian atrypid brachiopod taxa, and for separating the Atrypidae and Palaferellidae family-groups is outlined. The thickness, distribution, and repetition of the three layers of impunctate atrypid shell wall differ markedly from one genus to the next and show a general evolutionary trend towards reduction and simplification.