TELYCHIAN (LLANDOVERY, SILURIAN) BIVALVES FROM SPAIN

Abstract:  Twenty species of bivalves (14 new) and 14 genera (six new) are described from two localities in the Silurian, upper Telychian, Oktavites spiralis Biozone of Spain: Cardavia cathleenae gen. et sp. nov., C. hafi sp. nov . , C. stefani sp. nov.; Copenychia franta gen. et sp. nov., C. pristina sp. nov.; Stolidotus marco sp. nov.; Telycardia malinka gen. et sp. nov.; Silurinka vetula gen. et sp. nov.; Bolsopteria lentilka gen. et sp. nov.; Nennapteria ibericola gen. et sp. nov., N. ollicula sp. nov.; Actinopteria dakryodes sp. nov., A. isabelae sp. nov. and Dceruska hispanica sp. nov. They comprise two closely related communities, the Copenychia-Cardavia-Actinopteria Community and the Dceruska-Copenychia-Stolidotus Community, which belong to the Snoopyia Community Group. The occurrence of Dceruska Barrande, 1881, Dualina Barrande, 1881, Patrocardia Barrande, 1881, Silurinka , gen. nov., Slava Barrande, 1881 and Stolidotus Hede, 1915 in the Telychian of the Central Iberian Domain, Spain, supports palaeogeographical relationships with other Lower Silurian regions of north Gondwanan and Perunican Europe: the Carnic Alps (Austria), the Montagne Noire (France), Sardinia (Italy) and the Prague Basin (Bohemia), and also to Avalonia: the Welsh Borderland (Great Britain) and Baltica–Skåne (Sweden). These genera together with the new genera Cardavia, Copenychia (the earliest known representatives of the Silurian family Cardiolidae), Telycardia (the oldest known representative of the family Praecardiidae) and Silurinka belong to a Bohemian type of bivalve. Bolsopteria lentilka is closely related to Bolsopteria elliptica (Hind, 1910) from the Aeronian (middle Llandovery) of Scotland.