Article: Lower Carboniferous conodont faunas from the eastern Mendips, England

In the Mendip Hills, the lower part of the Carboniferous Limestone succession (the Lower Limestone Shale and Black Rock Groups) extends to greater thickness than is found in the Avon Gorge at Bristol. Conodont faunas from this range of the Mendip succession are described here. A distinctive lag-type deposit occurs low in the Lower Limestone Shale Group. Faunas below this lag (with Patrognathus, Pseudopolygnathus dentilineatus, Polygnathus symmetricus) cannot yet be dated precisely. Above, faunas with Siphonodella, Elictognathus, and Gnathodus correlate with those known from the late Kinderhookian of the U.S.A. and probably represent the range of the upper Siphonodella crenulata-Zone of Germany. Higher, in the middle part of the Black Rock Group, faunas typical of the German anchoralis-Zone appear. Particular interest attaches to the occurrence of Scaliognathus anchoralis, Dollymae bouckaerti, Pelekysgnathus bultyncki, and related forms. These compare closely with faunas recently described from Tn 3c in Belgium. None of the anchoralis-Zone species are known from the Avon Gorge succession, which is considered to be incomplete.