The brachiopod genus Composita in the Carboniferous successions from Rod El-Hamal area, Wadi Araba, north Eastern Desert, Egypt: A revision based on morphometric analysis

ABSTRACT

This study provides quantitative and qualitative analyses for the brachiopod shells of the Genus Composita. For this study, 75 brachiopod specimens were collected from the Late Carboniferous Rod El-Hamal Formation that are exposed at Rod El-Hamal area, Wadi Araba, north Eastern Desert, Egypt. The collected brachiopod specimens belong to six species in genus Composita; Composita subtilita, C. subquadrata, C. ovata, C. ambigua, C. trilobata, and C. trinuclea. In order to distinguish the different species of Composita, morphometric analysis, using ImageJ and MorphoJ software packages, was applied. Morphometric analysis included landmark configurations, generalised procrustes analysis, principle component analysis, and thin-plate spline visualisation plots. In the Composita genus, the quantitative analysis proposed considerable variations along the posterior region.

KEYWORDS:

• Composita
• morphometrics
• late Carboniferous
• Rod El-Hamal
• Eastern Desert
• Egypt

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for funding this work through Researchers Supporting Project number (RSP-2019/149).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Compliance with ethical standards

All procedures by this study were in accordance with international ethical standards. The research involved no human participants.

Additional information

Funding

This Research was funded by King Saud University, Researchers Supporting Project number (RSP-2019/149), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.