Middle Ordovician cephalopods from the Abarsaj area, northern Iran

Abstract

Four cephalopod taxa are described from the Abastu Formation at a locality near the village of Abarsaj, northern Iran. The described fauna includes Orthocerida indet, Eosomichelinoceras sp., Proterovaginoceras incognitum? and Sactorthoceras sp. suggesting a late Dapingian to Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) age of the strata. The reported assemblage belongs to an open marine faunal association and its composition suggests a close affinity with those of Baltica and South China.

Keywords::

• Cephalopoda
• Middle Ordovician
• northern Iran
• Palaeogeography

Acknowledgements

O. K. B. and B. K. acknowledge the support of CASP. The suggestions and comments of D. Evans and O. Lehnert have greatly improved an earlier version of this manuscript. The authors thank C. Klug and M. Calner for their careful reading of the manuscript.