A Llandovery (mid-upper Aeronian) brachiopod fauna is described for the first time from the Niur Formation of Central Iran. It is dominated by two succeeding rhynchonellide species Stegocornu procerum Dürkoop, 1970 and Stegocornu denisae sp. nov. In addition, there are three common and four rarer brachiopod species, including Dalejina? rashidii sp. nov., Isorthis (Ovalella) inflata sp. nov. and Striispirifer? ocissimus sp. nov. The Stegocornu Association gives a distinct biogeographic signature to the mid to late Llandovery rhynchonellide-dominated shallow-water brachiopod faunas of Central Iran, Kope-Dagh and Afghanistan. Its proliferation in temperate latitude peri-Gondwana was one of the earliest signs of biogeographical differentiation of the brachiopod faunas in the early Silurian. The affinities of Stegocornu and Xerxespirifer are discussed.
Alavi, M. 1991. Tectonic Map of the Middle East, Scale 1 : 5,000,000. Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran.
Alvarez, F. & Rong, J. Y. 2002. Order Athyridida. In Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Part H, Brachiopoda (Revised) (Kaesler, R. L., ed.), pp. 1475–1614. Geological Society of America and the University of Kansas Press, Boulder and Lawrence.
Barrande, J. 1879. Système Silurien du centre de la Bohême. Premiére partie Recherches paléontologiques 5, Classe des Mollusques, Ordre des Brachiopodes. Published by the author, Paris, 226 pp.
Bassett, M. G. 1972. The articulate brachiopods from the Wenlock Series of the Welsh Borderland and South Wales, part 2. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, 126(532), 27–78.
Berberian, M. & King, G. C. P. 1981. Towards a paleogeography and tectonic evolution of Iran. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 18, 210–265.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e81-163
Boucot, A. J. 1963. The Eospiriferidae. Palaeontology, 5, 682–711.
Boucot, A. J. & Blodgett, R. B. 2001. Silurian–Devonian biogeography. In Brachiopods Past and Present (Brunton, C. H. C., Cocks, L. R. M. & Long, S. L., eds), pp. 335–344. Taylor and Francis, London.
Boucot, A. J., Johnson, J. G. & Walmsley, V. G. 1965. Revision of the Rhipidomellidae (Brachiopoda) and the affinities of Mendacella and Dalejina. Journal of Paleontology, 39, 331–340.
Brice, D. 1999. Middle(?) Silurian rhynchonellid and spiriferid brachiopod faunas from eastern central Iran. Annales de la Société géologique du Nord, 7, 5–12.
Bruton, D. L., Wright, A. J. & Hamedi, M. A. 2004. Ordovician trilobites of Iran. Palaeontographica, A271, 111–149.
Carter, J. L., Johnson, J. G., Gourvennec, R. & Hou, H. 1994. A revised classification of the spiriferid brachiopods. Annals of the Carnegie Museum, 63, 327–374.
Caster, K. E. 1939. A Devonian fauna from Colombia. Bulletin of American Paleontology, 24(83), 1–218.
Cocks, L. R. M. 1967. Llandovery stropheodontids from the Welsh Borderland. Palaeontology, 10, 245–265.
Cocks, L. R. M. 1979. A silicified brachiopod fauna from the Silurian of Iran. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology, 32, 25–42.
Conrad, T. A. 1840. Third Annual Report, Palaeontological Department, Geological Survey of New York, Albany, 4, 199–207.
Conrad, T. A. 1842. Observations on the Silurian and Devonian Systems of the United States, with descriptions of new organic remains. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 8(2), 228–280.
Cooper, G. A. 1956. Chazyan and related brachiopods. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 127, 1–1245.
Cooper, G. A. & Muir-Wood, H. M. 1951. Brachiopod homonyms. Journal of Washington Academy of Sciences, 41(6), 195–196.
Dalman, J. W. 1828. Uppställning och Beskrifning af de i Sverige funne Terebratuliter. Kungliga Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar, Stockholm, 1827, 85–155.
Dürkoop, A. 1970. Brachiopoden aus dem Silur, Devon und Karbon in Afghanistan. Palaeontographica, Series A, 134, 153–225.
Foerste, A. F. 1909. Fossils from the Silurian formations of Tennessee, Indiana and Kentucky. Bulletin of the Denison University Scientific Laboratory, 14, 61–116.
Flügel, H. W. & Saleh, H. 1970. Die palaeozoischen Korallenfaunen Ost-Irans. 1. Rugose Korallen der Niur Formation (Silur). Jahrbuch der Geologischen Bundesanstalt, 113, 267–302.
Frederiks, G. N. 1924. Paleontologicheskie etyudy. 2. O verkhnekamenougol¢nykh spiriferidakh Urala [Paleontological studies. 2. On Upper Carboniferous spiriferids from the Urals]. Izvestiya Geologicheskogo Komiteta, 38(3), 295–324. (Volume 38 for 1919 was published in 1924) [in Russian].
Ghobadi Pour, M., Williams, M., Vannier, J., Meidla, T. & Popov, L. E. 2006. Ordovician ostracods from east Central Iran. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 51, 551–560.
[GSI] Geological Survey of Iran. 2001a. Geological Map of Quadrangle Kashmar, 1 : 100 000. Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran.
[GSI] Geological Survey of Iran. 2001b. Geological Map of Quadrangle Robat-e-Qarehbil, 1 : 100 000. Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran.
Hairapetian, V., Blom, H. & Miller, C. G. 2008. Silurian thelodonts from the Niur Formation, central Iran. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 53, 85–95.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4202/app.2008.0105
Hairapetian, V., Mohibullah, M., Tilley, L. J., Williams, M., Miller, C. G., Afzal, J., Ghobadi Pour, M. & Hejazi, S. H. 2011. Early Silurian carbonate platform ostracods from Iran: a peri-Gondwanan fauna with strong Laurentian affinities. Gondwana Research, 20, 645–653.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2010.12.012
Harper, D. & Boucot, A. 1978. The Stropheodontacea, Part I (Leptostrophiidae, Eostropheodontidae, and Strophonellidae). Palaeontographica, Series A, 161, 55–118.
Havlíček, V. 1953. O nekolika novych ramenonozcích českého a moravského středního devonu [On some new brachiopods of the Czech and Moravian Middle Devonian]. Věstník Ústředního Ústavu Geologického, 28, 4–9 [in Czech].
Jin, J. 1989. Late Ordovician–Early Silurian rhynchonellid brachiopods from Anticosti Island, Quebec. Biostratigraphie du Paléozoïque, 10, 1–127.
Jin, J. & Caldwell, G. E. 1990. Rhytidorhachis, a new Silurian rhynchonellid brachiopod from Gotland, Sweden and Hudson Bay Lowlands, Canada. Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Bulletin (Sciences de la Terre), 60, 29–41.
Jin, J. & Copper, P. 2004. Evolution of the Early Silurian rhynchonellid brachiopod Stegerhynchus, Anticosti Island, eastern Canada. Journal of Paleontology, 78, 866–883.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1666/0022-3360(2004)078<0866:EOTESR>2.0.CO;2
King, W. 1846. Remarks on certain genera belonging to the class Palliobranchiata. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Series 1), 18(117), 26–42, 83–94.
Kuhn, O. 1949. Lehrbuch der Paläozoologie. E. Schweizerbartsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, 326 pp.
Kozlowski, R. 1929. Les brachiopodes gotlandiens de la Podolie polonaise. Palaeontologia Polonica, 1, I–XIII+1–254.
Laurie, J. R. 1991. Articulate brachiopods from the Ordovician and Lower Silurian of Tasmania. Memoir of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 11, 1–106.
Li, R. & Copper, P. 2006. Early Silurian (Llandovery) orthide brachiopods from Anticosti Island, eastern Canada: the O/S extinction recovery fauna. Special Papers in Palaeontology, 76, 1–71.
Lindenberg, H. G., Gröler, K., Jacobshagen, V. & Ibbeken, H. 1984. Post-Paleozoic stratigraphy, structure and orogenetic evolution of the southern Sabzevar zone and the Taknar block. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie, Abhandlungen, 168, 287–326.
Männik, P. 1994. Conodonts from the Pusku Quarry, lower Llandovery, Estonia. Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Geology, 43, 183–191.
Moore, R. C. 1952. Brachiopods. In Invertebrate Fossils (Moore, R. C., Lalicker, C. G. & Fischer, A. G., eds), pp. 197–267. McGraw-Hill. New York.
Öpik, A. 1934. Über Klitamboniten. Acta and Commentationes Universitatis Tartuensis (Dorpatensis), Series A, 26(5), 4–239.
Paeckelman, W. & Sieverts, H. 1932. Obersilurische und devonische Faunen der Prinzeninseln, Bithyniens und Thraziens. Abhandlungen der Preussischen Geologischen Landesanstalt, Berlin (New Series), 142, 1–79.
Ramezani, J. & Tucker, R. D. 2003. The Saghand region, central Iran: U–Pb geochronology, petrogenesis and implications for Gondwana tectonics. American Journal of Science, 303, 622–665.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2475/ajs.303.7.622
Rozman, Kh. S. 1969. Pozdneordovikskie brakhiopody Sibirskoj platformy [Late Ordovician brachiopods of the Siberian Platform]. Paleontologicheskij Zhurnal, 1969(3), 86–108.
Rong, J. & Yang, X. 1978. Silurian spiriferoids from southwest China with special reference to their stratigraphical significance. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, 17, 357–386 [in Chinese, with English summary].
Rong, J., Xu, H. & Yang, X. 1974. Brachiopoda (Silurian). In A Handbook of the Stratigraphy and Palaeontology in Southwest China, pp. 195–208, pls 92–96. Science Press, Beijing.
Rubel, M. 1963. Silurian orthide brachiopods of Estonia. Eesti NSV Teaduste Akadeemia Geoloogia Instituudi Uurimused, 13, 109–160 [in Russian, with English summary].
Ruttner, A., Nabavi, M. & Hajian, J. 1968. Geology of the Shirgesht area (Tabas area, East Iran). Reports of the Geological Survey of Iran, 4, 1–133.
Rzhonsnitskaya, M. A. 1956. Nadsemeistvo Pentameracea M’Coy, 1844. In Materialy po paleontologii, novye semeistva i rody [Palaeontological Material, New Families and Genera] (Kiparisova, L. D., Markovskij, B. P. & Radchenko, G. P., eds), Trudy Vsesoyuznogo Nauchno-Issledovatel¢skogo Geologicheskogo Instituta (VSEGEI) (New Series), 12, 49–50 [in Russian].
Savage, N. M., Mancenido, M. O., Owen, E. F., Carlson, S. J., Grant, R. E., Dagys, A. S. & Sun, D. 2002. Rhynchonellida. In Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part H, Brachiopoda, (Revised), 4, Rhynchonelliformea (Part) (Kaesler, R. L., ed.), pp. 1027–1376. Geological Society of America, Denver and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.
Schmidt, H. 1965. Paleozoic Rhynchonellacea [part]. In Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Part H, Brachiopoda (Moore, R. C., ed.), pp. 552–597. Geological Society of America & University of Kansas Press, New York & Lawrence.
Schuchert, C. 1913. Class 2. Brachiopoda. In Text-book of Palaeontology, Vol. 1, Part 1, 2nd Ed. (von Zittel, K. A., translated and edited by Eastman, C. R.), pp. 355–420, figs 526–636. MacMillan & Co., Ltd. London.
Schuchert, C. 1929. Classification of brachiopod genera, fossil and recent. In Brachiopoda (Generum et Genotyporum Index et Bibliographia) (Schuchert, C. & LeVene, C. M.), Fossilium Catalogus I: Animalia, 42, 10–25. W. Junk, Berlin.
Schuchert, C. & Cooper, G. A. 1931. Synopsis of the brachiopod genera of the suborders Orthoidea and Pentameroidea, with notes on the Telotremata. American Journal of Science (Series 5), 22, 241–255.
Schuchert, C. & Cooper, G. A. 1932. Brachiopod genera of the suborders Orthoidea and Pentameroidea. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, 4(1), 1–270.
Sowerby, J. de C. 1839. Mollusca and Conchifers. In The Silurian System, Part 2. Organic remains (Murchison, R. I.), pp. 577–768. John Murray, London.
Sowerby, J. de C. 1840–1846. The Mineral Conchology of Great Britain, Vol. 7. Published by the author, London, 80 pp.
Strusz, D. L. 2002. Brachiopods of the Orders Protorthida and Orthida from the Silurian of the Yass Syncline, southern New South Wales. Alcheringa, 26, 49–86.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03115510208619244
Twenhofel, W. H. 1928. Geology of Anticosti Island. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir, 154, 1–351.
Waagen, W. H. 1883. Salt-Range fossils, vol. I, Part 4, Productus Limestone fossils, Brachiopoda. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, Palaeontologia Indica (Series 13), fasc. 2, 391–546.
Walliser, O. H. 1964. Conodonten des Silurs. Abhandlungen des Hessischen Landesamtes für Bodenforschung, 41, 1–106.
Walmsley, V. G. 1966. Silurian brachiopods and gastropods of southern New Brunswick. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin, 140, 1–45.
Walmsley, V. G. & Boucot, A. J. 1975. The phylogeny, taxonomy and biogeography of Silurian and Early to Mid Devonian Isorthinae (Brachiopoda). Palaeontographica, 148A, 34–108.
Williams, A. 1951. Llandovery brachiopods from Wales with special reference to the Llandovery district. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, 107, 85–136.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/GSL.JGS.1951.107.01-04.05
Williams, A. & Harper, D. A. T. 2000. Orthida. In Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Volume H, Brachiopoda (Revised), 3 (Kaesler, R. L., ed.), pp. 714–782. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Boulder and Lawrence.
Zhang, N. 1989. Wenlockian (Silurian) brachiopods of the Cape Phillips Formation, Baillie Hamilton Island, Arctic Canada: Part I. Palaeontographica (Abt. A), 206, 46–97.
