Reappraisal of some Upper Devonian (Famennian) spiriferide brachiopods from the Band-e Bayan Domain (Afghanistan)

The upper and uppermost Famennian succession (Upper Devonian) of the Band-e Bayan Domain (also known as the Axial Zone), a Cimmerian terrane of western Afghanistan (northern margin of Gondwana), yielded diverse brachiopod faunas that are dominated by the spiriferides. Among the latter, six species belonging to four genera, previously erected by D. Brice in the seventies and also known from Iran, are reappraised on the basis of their type material and re-illustrated. The genera Enchondrospirifer and Eobrachythyris are transferred to the subfamilies Cyrtospiriferinae (Cyrtospiriferoidea) and Prospirinae (Spiriferoidea), respectively, whereas the ornament and micro-ornament of both Afghan species of Dichospirifer are documented. The genus Ghorispirifer nov. gen. (Cyrtiopsinae) is erected with Cyrtiopsis graciosa chakhaensis Brice as type species, and includes a second species, namely Cyrtiopsis lapparenti Brice. The new genus is characterized notably by the strong development of ventral apical callosities. Upper Devonian (Frasnian?) brachiopods from the Band-e Bayan Domain described by Maillieux in the first half of the 20th century are revised and photographically illustrated for the first time. The brachiopod generic diversity recognized in Afghanistan (Band-e Bayan Domain, Central Mountains) prior to the Hangenberg Crisis is very high in some sections of the Band-e Bayan Domain (Rhuk pass section, and to a lesser extent at Robat-e-Pai), as also observed in contemporaneous successions of South China and contrary to what is reported in Western Europe (Franco-Belgian Basin for instance).