ASGP (2017), vol. 87: 89–99
TUNETHYRIS BLODGETTI SP. NOV. (BRACHIOPODA, TEREBRATULIDA) FROM THE MIDDLE TRIASSIC OF MAKHTESH RAMON, SOUTHERN ISRAEL
Howard R. FELDMAN
Biology Department, Touro College, American Museum of Natural History, 227 W. 60th Street, New York 10023, USA; e-mail: feldspar4 at optonline.net
Feldman, H. R., 2017. Tunethyris blodgetti sp. nov. (Brachiopoda, Terebratulida) from the Middle Triassic of the Makhtesh Ramon, southern Israel. Annales Societatis Geologorum Poloniae, 87: 89–99.
Abstract: Tunethyris blodgetti sp. nov. from the Triassic Saharonim Formation, Makhtesh Ramon, an erosional cirque in southern Israel, is erected on the basis of a suite of 39 articulated specimens. The shells are very strongly sulciplicated, a feature that seems to be more prevalent in the Mesozoic than the Palaeozoic. The Saharonim Formation was deposited under quasi-normal, calm, relatively shallow marine conditions. Faunal constituents of the Saharonim Formation include conodonts, ostracods, foraminiferans, bivalves, cephalopods, gastropods, echinoderms and vertebrate remains that belong to the Sephardic Province and are diagnostic of the Middle Triassic series of Israel. The faunal composition and shallow depositional environment of the strata may help differentiate the Sephardic Province from the Germanic Muschelkalk and the Alpine Tethyan faunas to the north.
Manuscript received 4 May 2016, accepted 20 April 2017
