Strophalosiacean and aulostegacean productoids (Brachiopoda) from the Craven Reef Belt (late Viséan) of North Yorkshire

Abstract

SUMMARY Brachiopods belonging to the Strophalosiacea and Aulostegacea from the reef faunas of the Craven Reef Belt, North Yorkshire, are described with emphasis upon their functional morphology and attachment characteristics; all are specialized for living on hard surfaces, principally within reef framework facies. Two new aulostegacean genera are described: Limbifera , with type species L. griffithiana (de Koninck), and Retroplexus , with type species R. parkhousensis sp. nov. from Derbyshire and R. cravenensis sp. nov. from North Yorkshire. In addition, Stipulina tiddemani sp. nov. and Sinuatella johnsoni sp. nov. are described from North Yorkshire and from younger (Pendleian) strata in Northumberland respectively.

New insights on Tournaisian–Visean (Carboniferous, Mississippian) athyridide, orthotetide, rhynchonellide, and strophomenide brachiopods from southern Belgium

“…6, figs. 6, 7) illustrated two specimens from the Visean of Visé, which are re-illustrated here , that he assigned to the productide Sinuatella sinuata (de Koninck, 1851), which undoubtedly belong to Leptagonia by their external features (see discussion related to de Koninck's species of, e.g., MuirWood and Cooper [1960] and Brunton and Mundy [1988]). Brand (1972) tentatively assigned the specimen RBINS a5915 (Demanet, 1934, pl.…”

The Role of Spain in the Development of the Reef Brachiopod Faunas During the Carboniferous

“…These specimens probably drifted in attached to goniatites as suggested by their ornamentation. A recent revision of the brachiopods from the Valdeteja Formation (see Martínez Chacón and Winkler Prins, 2006a) and notably of the locality of Latores (Martínez Chacón and Winkler Prins, 2006b) has shown the presence of rare specimens related to typical reef-related taxa from the Viséan of the British Isles Brunton and Mundy, 1988), such as Stipulina? sp., Institina?…”

“…As an example of Viséan reefs from Northwest Europe the Craven reef belt of North Yorkshire (Table 2) is chosen for comparison, since the brachiopod faunas are well known through the summary by Wolfenden (1958) and the work of Brunton and others (e.g., Brunton and Mundy, 1988;Brunton and Tilsley, 1991;. Data from Ireland (Brunton, 1966(Brunton, , 1968(Brunton, , 1984(Brunton, , 1987Harper and Jeffrey, 1996) only marginally modify the picture.…”

“…During the entire Carboniferous, the biogenic structures on carbonate platforms were mainly formed by calcareous algae, bryozoans, pelmatozoans, and (chaetetid) sponges (Sommerville et al, 1996;Minwegen, 2001;Wahlman, 2002), although small coral reefs did occur (e.g., Rodríguez, 1996;Aretz and Herbig, 2003;Sano et al, 2004;García-Bellido and Rodríguez, 2005). Associated faunas, brachiopods in particular, sometimes show peculiarities, which may suggest an adaptation to reef environment (e.g., Mundy and Brunton, 1985;Brunton and Mundy, 1988). The presence of closely related or similar forms among the rich brachiopod faunas from the Permian reefs of Texas (Cooper andGrant, 1972-1977) support this interpretation.…”

The ‘black marble’ of Denée, a fossil conservation deposit from the Lower Carboniferous (Viséan) of southern Belgium

“…Some of them have spines of much greater length than the shell bearing them (Delépine 1928). These long spines were most probably for support (Brunton and Mundy 1988) and acted as a stabilizing snowshoe to prevent shells from sinking in the muddy substrate (Bowen et al 1974). Their preservation attests to the absence of or only minor transport.…”