Publication Date:
2019
Description:
〈p〉More than 30 species of tergomyan, gastropod, bivalve and cephalopod molluscs are described from the Late Ordovician of central and eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco. For the cephalopods this represents the first systematically known taxa of the region. Tergomyans and gastropods are most common in the more shaly part of the Lower Ktaoua Formation, while bivalves are more frequent in the sandy part of the Lower Second Bani Formation. A southern Gondwana aspect is evident for the tergomyan, gastropod and bivalve assemblages, sharing many taxa with Bohemia, while no clear signal is present for the cephalopods. The latter reflects insufficient knowledge of the fauna of large parts of these areas. The widely recognized 〈i〉Holopea〈/i〉? 〈i〉antiquata〈/i〉 is transferred to the genus 〈i〉Radvanospira〈/i〉 gen. nov.; other new gastropod taxa include 〈i〉Allossospira〈/i〉 gen. nov., 〈i〉Tritonophon grandis〈/i〉 sp. nov., 〈i〉Radvanospira baniensis〈/i〉 sp. nov. and 〈i〉Lophospira latilabra〈/i〉 sp. nov. Most of the diverse bivalve fauna and the few cephalopods are left in open nomenclature but new taxa include the bivalve 〈i〉Praenucula pojetai〈/i〉 sp. nov. and the cephalopods 〈i〉Wadema tattai〈/i〉 sp. nov. and 〈i〉Tafadnatoceras tiouririnense〈/i〉 gen. et. sp. nov. The Late Ordovician bivalves from Morocco are dominated by pteriomorphs and protobranchs, inhabiting infaunal, semi-infaunal and epifaunal niches.〈/p〉
Print ISSN:
0375-6440
Electronic ISSN:
2041-4927
Topics:
Geosciences
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