Acta Geologica Polonica, Vol. 62 (2012), No. 1, pp. 63–89 DOI: 10.2478/v10263-012-0003-1 Late Cenomanian–Turonian (Cretaceous) ammonites from Wadi Qena, central Eastern Desert, Egypt: taxonomy, bio- stratigraphy and palaeobiogeographic implications EMAD NAGM1 AND MARKUS WILMSEN2 1Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, Egypt. E-mail:
[email protected] 2Senckenberg Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden, Museum für Mineralogie und Geologie, Sektion Paläozoologie, Königsbrücker Landstr. 159, D-01109 Dresden, Germany. ` E-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT: Nagm, E. and Wilmsen, M. 2012. Late Cenomanian–Turonian (Cretaceous) ammonites from Wadi Qena, central Eastern Desert, Egypt: taxonomy, biostratigraphy and palaeobiogeographic implications. Acta Geologica Polonica, 62 (1), 63–89. Warszawa. In Egypt, marine Upper Cenomanian–Turonian strata are well exposed in the Eastern Desert. The southernmost outcrops are located in the central part of Wadi Qena, where the lower Upper Cretaceous is represented by the fos- siliferous Galala and Umm Omeiyid formations. From these strata, numerous ammonites have been collected bed-by-bed and 13 taxa have been identified, which are systematically described herein. Four of them (Euom- phaloceras costatum, Vascoceras globosum globosum, Thomasites gongilensis and Pseudotissotia nigeriensis) are recorded from Egypt for the first time. The ammonite ranges are used for a biostratigraphic zonation of the lower Upper Cretaceous succession in the northern and central part of Wadi Qena: the Upper Cenomanian–Lower Tur- onian has been subdivided into five biozones (including a new upper Lower Turonian biozone based on the oc- currence of Pseudotissotia nigeriensis), and one biozone has been recognized in the Upper Turonian.