Article: Lower Cretaceous Terebratulidae from south-western Morocco and their biogeography
Publication: Palaeontology
Volume:
23
Part:
3
Publication Date:
August
1980
Page(s):
515
–
556
Author(s):
Frank A. Middlemiss
Abstract
The terebratulid brachiopods contained in the Gentil and Whitaker Collections from the Lower Cretaceous of south-west Morocco have been revised. Although the majority of the species are confined to south-west Morocco, the affinities of the fauna are with the faunas of the shallow marine regions bordering Tethys, such as the Jura region, eastern Spain, the Crimea, and the northern Caucasus; the Tethyan pygopid brachiopods characteristic of the Rif in northern Morocco are almost absent. The fauna thus constitutes a Jura-type assemblage situated on the southern side of Tethys. In the systematic section a new genus Paraboubeithyris is erected; also seven new species: Loriolithyris melaitensis, L. marocensis, Boubeithyris tibourrensis, B. pleta, Paraboubeithyris plicae, Kutchithyris kennedyi, and Juralina ecruensis. The genera Kutchithyris and Juralina, previously described from the Jurassic, are shown to have survived into the Lower Cretaceous. Terebratula subsella Leymerie is referred to Kutchithyris.