Selected Oxfordian brachiopods from Zalas (Cracow Upland, Poland)

Abstract

AbstractSmall brachiopods of the families Craniidae Menke, 1828 and Thecidellinidae Elliott, 1958 were selected from the Oxfordian sequence which lies transgressively upon a Variscan rhyodacite laccolite exposed at Zalas in the Cracow Upland, southern Poland, a site which is well-known due to various kinds of ubiquitous fossils. The craniids include three species: Craniscus bipartitus (Münster in Goldfuss, 1837), Craniscus tripartitus (Münster in Goldfuss, 1837) and Craniscus antiquior (Jelly, 1843), and the thecidellinids - two species: Rioultina zalasensis sp. nov. and Rioultina wapiennensis Krawczyński, 2008. The species described herein indicate tropical or subtropical waters, and a moderately (?) deep character of the sea basin at Zalas.