Pragian (Lower Devonian) stromatoporoids and rugose corals from Zújar (Sierra Morena, southern Spain)

Abstract

The locality Zújar at the boundary between the Badajoz and Córdoba provinces belongs to the Obejo-Valsequillo-Puebla de la Reina Domain. Within the fossiliferous reefal carbonates of Pragian age cropping out in Zújar, 10 stromatoporoid species and 7 rugose coral species are identified. The new rugose coral species Martinophyllum miriamae n. sp. is described. Hexagonaria soraufi Rodríguez García, 1978 is a subspecies of Martinophyllum ornatum Jell & Pedder, 1969. The Pragian fauna of Zújar is a typical fauna of the Old World Realm with remarkably close relationships to Arctic Canada and Australia. Most species have been recorded for the first time from Spain. No significant relationships to the Eastern Americas Realm are visible. Remarkable is, that none of the stromatoporoid species of Zújar is known from the famous Pragian reef complex of Koněprusy in Bohemia, meanwhile the rugose coral fauna (e. g. Joachimastraea barrandei Galle, Hladil & May, 1999) shows some relations. Some of the species found are ancestors of important constructors of the Middle Devonian reef complexes, demonstrating that the roots of the Givetian-Frasnian reef complexes reach down to the Pragian.