Late Ordovician trilobites from northwest Iran and their biogeographical affinities

ABSTRACT A diverse, previously undescribed trilobite fauna from northwest Iran sheds new light on the Early Palaeozoic geography of the Alborz terrane. The structural history of the Alborz region is well known, though faunal data for the area are sparse, especially for the Ordovician. Trilobites, brachiopods, conodonts, bryozoans and echinoderms occur in a red grainstone/packstone near the village of Tatavrud, 35 km southwest of Bandar-e-Anzali. The fossils indicate a Late Ordovician age, although lithologically similar outcrops in northern Iran have previously been considered Silurian. Trilobite genera occurring include Trinodus, Geragnostus, Illaenus, Panderia, Phorocephala, Ovalocephalus, Dicranopeltis, Symphysops, Cyclopyge, and Sphaerexochus. Similar assemblages have been reported from the Late Ordovician of Ireland, Spain, Poland, Norway, northwest China, Kazakhstan and the Turkistan–Alai Ridge (Uzbekistan–Kyrgyzstan border). Reconstructions of Late Ordovician geography place the Alborz terrane near the eastern margin of Gondwana, but there is doubt as to its precise location. Some workers have considered it part of the margin while others have considered it a separate terrane. Several species present, including Mezzaluna tatavrudensis n. sp. and Phorocephala cf. ulugtana (Petrunina, 1975) are very similar to taxa described from the Turkistan–Alai Ridge. In addition, the isocolid genus Paratiresias has only been reported from Iran, the Turkistan–Alai Ridge and northwest China. The presence of these taxa indicates that the Alborz terrane was in close proximity to the eastern margin of Gondwana at this time.