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Gastropods from the Gara El Itima (Eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco)

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Gastropods from the Gara El Itima (Eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco) Fossil Record 12 (2) 2009, 183–196 / DOI 10.1002/mmng.200900006 Late Visan (Carboniferous) gastropods from the Gara El Itima (eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco) Doris Heidelberger*,1, Dieter Korn2 and Volker Ebbighausen3 1 Kapellenstraße 8–10, 61440 Oberursel, Germany. E-mail: [email protected] 2 Museum fr Naturkunde Berlin, Invalidenstraße 43, 10115 Berlin, Germany. E-mail: [email protected] 3 Engstenberger Hhe 12, 51519 Odenthal, Germany. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Received 23 October 2008 Diverse and well-preserved Late Visan (Early Carboniferous) gastropod faunas from Accepted 24 January 2009 the eastern Anti-Atlas of Morocco are described herein. The new genus Itimaspira Published 3 August 2009 n. gen. is described as well as the six new species Ananias weyeri n. sp., Itimaspira klugi n. sp., Nodospira krawczynskii n. sp., Baylea cordulae n. sp., Cinclidonema maro- Key Words censis n. sp., and Schizostoma africanum n. sp., together with specimens of the genera Baylea, Orthonema,?Knightella sp. and Macrochilina in open nomenclature. Gastropoda Mollusca Mississippian Tafilalt Introduction doubts. A revision of the Visan gastropods described by Termier & Termier (1950) and of additional recently The Early Carboniferous sedimentary succession in the studied localities will be necessary in the future to elu- Anti-Atlas of Morocco has long been in the shadow of cidate the relationships and precise stratigraphic posi- the much wider distributed, locally more fossiliferous, tion of this earlier described material. and therefore more intensely studied Devonian succes- The extensive studies of the Palaeozoic rocks of the sion. Early Carboniferous macrofossils from the Anti- Anti-Atlas by Wendt et al. (1984) and Wendt (1985, 1988) Atlas have been described only rarely until the 1990’s; have motivated special focus on the biostratigraphic sub- one of the contributions is the ammonoid monograph division of the Late Devonian and Carboniferous se- by Delpine (1941). Termier & Termier (1950) reported quences (Fig. 1). The re-discovery, in the mid-1990’s, of 18 species of various gastropod genera (Platyceras, the ammonoid-bearing localities described by Delpine Schizostoma, Straparollus, Microdoma, Anematina, Bel- (1941) resulted in a first monograph on the Late Visan lerophon, Euphemites, Worthenia, Ptychomphalina, ammonoid faunas from the area of Taouz (Korn et al. Baylea,“Gosseletia” [objective synonym erroneously 1999), followed by a number of studies (Korn et al. 2002, used by Termier & Termier for Gosseletina Fischer, 2003, 2005, 2007; Klug et al. 2006), during which the gas- 1885], and Zygopleura) from different Visan localities tropod material described here was assembled. Therefore, in Morocco, most in open nomenclature or in vague all the material can precisely be assigned to distinct hori- relation to gastropods from Belgium or Great Britain. zons in terms of ammonoid biostratigraphy (Fig. 2). Their plates figured 41 specimens, including 16 speci- The present article is the first monographic descrip- mens in open nomenclature and 9 without generic de- tion of Visan gastropods from the Anti-Atlas. All stud- termination, demonstrating the actual rudimentary ied specimens are well preserved; the moderate to large knowledge of the Visan gastropod fauna of Morocco. sizes suggest good feeding conditions. The increasing Only the two genera Straparollus and Baylea that number of species and specimens within the three as- were reported by Termier & Termier (1950) from the semblages may have been supported by an improve- Gara el Itima can be confirmed without taxonomic ment of living conditions at the bottom. * Corresponding author # 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim 184 Heidelberger,D.etal.:LateVise´ an gastropods from the Anti-Atlas Figure 1. The geographic position of the Gara El Itima (marked by an asterisk) in the Anti-Atlas of Morocco and the lithostrati- graphy with the gastropod-bearing fossil horizons. Most of the genera are also known from Europe. How- field campaigns at the following places (terminology for localities ever, there appears to be no match at the species level. and horizons following Klug et al. 2006): Locality GI-A (C. Klug & S. Dring 1998 and D. Korn 1999 Coll.); Horizon GI-3 (¼ Dombarites granofalcatus Assemblage): Stratigraphy of the assemblages Cinclidonema marocensis n. sp.: 1 specimen (MB.Ga.2713) Nodospira krawczynskii n. sp.: 3 specimens (MB.Ga.2718.1– The entire material from the Gara el Itima described here has a Bri- MB.Ga.2718.3) gantian (Late Visan) age; it derives from the Zrigat Formation and Orthonema sp.: 1 specimen (MB.Ga.2722) the Hamou-Rhanem Formation. Three of the ammonoid assemblages Locality GI-B (D. Korn 1999 Coll.); Horizon GI-4 (¼ Platygoniatites (Klug et al. 2006; Korn et al. 2007) also yielded gastropods, in as- rhanemensis Assemblage): cending order: Itimaspira klugi n. gen. n. sp.: 1 specimen (MB.Ga.2728) Goniatites gerberi Assemblage – This assemblage is most probably Schizostoma africanum n. sp.: 6 specimens (MB.Ga.2719.1– of early Brigantian (middle Late Visan) age because of the oc- MB.Ga.2719.6) currence of advanced representatives of the genus Goniatites. Baylea cordulae n. sp.: 1 specimen (MB.Ga.2720) Ananias weyeri n. sp.: 1 specimen (MB.Ga.2721) Dombarites granofalcatus Assemblage – The occurrence of the index species may indicate a middle Brigantian age, perhaps near the Locality GI-I (V. Ebbighausen & D. Korn 2004 Coll.); Horizon GI-4 occurrence of the related genus Lusitanoceras in Central Europe. (= Platygoniatites rhanemensis Assemblage): Cinclidonema marocensis n. sp.: 54 specimens (MB.Ga.2712.1– Platygoniatites rhanemensis Assemblage – The co-occurrence of the MB.Ga.2712.54) genera Platygoniatites, Neogoniatites, Hypergoniatites, Dombar- Macrochilina aff. acuta de Koninck, 1881: 1 specimen (MB.Ga.2714) ites, and Sudeticeras resembles faunas from the so-called Nm1a ?Knightella sp.: 1 specimen (MB.Ga.2715) Zone of the South Urals (Ruzhencev & Bogoslovskaya 1971). This Itimaspira klugi n. gen. n. sp.: 4 specimens (MB.Ga.2716.1– zone is situated below the entry of the genus Cravenoceras, and MB.Ga.2716.4) therefore, a late Brigantian age is most likely (Korn et al. 2007). Locality GI-K (V. Ebbighausen & D. Korn 2004 Coll.); Horizon GI-2 (= lower Goniatites gerberi Assemblage): Material Itimaspira klugi n. gen. n. sp.: 1 specimen (MB.Ga.2729) Ananias weyeri n. sp.: 1 specimen (MB.Ga.2717) In total, 93 specimens of gastropods were studied. All specimens are Locality GI-N (new locality at the southern foot of the Gara el Itima; deposited in the fossil invertebrate collection of the Museum fr Nat- V. Ebbighausen & D. Korn 2008 Coll.); Horizon GI-2 (= upper Go- urkunde at Berlin (Germany). They were collected during several niatites gerberi Assemblage): museum-fossilrecord.wiley-vch.de # 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim Fossil Record 12 (2) 2009, 183–196 185 Ananias weyeri n. sp.: 3 specimens (MB.Ga.2723.1–MB.Ga.2723.3) namentation between the gradate Ananias and the more Nodospira krawczynskii n. sp.: 10 specimens (MB.Ga.2724.1– trochiform Glabrocingulum are regarded important en- MB.Ga.2724.10) ough for us to support here Batten’s (1989) suggestion. Baylea cordulae n. sp.: 2 specimens (MB.Ga.2725.1–MB.Ga.2725.2) The convergence between Ananias welleri Knight, 1945 ?Baylea cf. concentrica (Phillips, 1836): 1 specimen (MB.Ga.2726) ?Orthonemoid gastropod: 1 specimen (MB.Ga.2727) and Worthenia tabulata (Conrad, 1835) has been stud- ied by Eldredge (1968). Stratigraphic occurrence. Ananias ranges from the Systematic palaeontology Early Carboniferous into the Permian. Class Gastropoda Cuvier, 1797 Subclass Archaeogastropoda Thiele, 1925 Ananias weyeri n. sp. Order Vetigastropoda von Salvini-Plawen, 1980 Figure 3 Family Eotomariidae Wenz, 1938 Derivation of name. Named after Dieter Weyer (Berlin), in honour of his contributions to palaeontology. Ananias Knight, 1945 Holotype. Specimen MB.Ga.2721 (V. Ebbighausen and D. Korn 2004 Coll.); illustrated in Figure 3A. Type species. Phanerotrema? welleri Newell, 1935. Type locality and horizon. Gara el Itima, locality GI-B (Klug et al. Diagnosis. Moderately high-spired, gradate shell; concave to flat sele- 2006); Platygoniatites rhanemensis Assemblage (late Brigantian, nizone forming the transition between a broad upper whorl surface Visan). and the outer whorl face and bordered by distinct lirae; ornamentation variable. Paratype material. Specimen MB.Ga.2717 from locality GI-K (lower Goniatites gerberi Assemblage); illustrated in Figure 3B; three speci- Remarks. Knight (1945) established the late Pennsylva- mens (MB.Ga.2723.1–MB.Ga.2723.3) from locality GI-N (upper Go- nian genus Ananias to separate high-spired, gradate niatites gerberi Assemblage). forms from more low-spired species of Glabrocingulum Diagnosis. Gradate, turbiniform shell with elevated spire; whorls with Thomas, 1940. Members of the genus Ananias always broad, oblique upper whorl surface; slightly concave to flat selenizone possess a concave selenizone bordered by spiral lirae forming the angulation between upper and outer whorl face, bordered instead of a convex selenizone as in the similar Worthe- by distinct spiral lirae; outer whorl face slightly convex; suture dis- tinct; ornamentation reticulate with many spiral and transverse lirae. nia de Koninck, 1883. Knight et al. (1960), Hoare (1961), Waterhouse (1963), and Gordon & Yochelson Description. Holotype MB.Ga.2721 possesses a gradate, (1983, 1987) regarded Ananias
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