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First Report Of Sphaeronitid Blastozoans (Echinodermata) In The Middle Ordovician Of The Taurides, Turkey, Elise Nardin, Mehmet Cemal Göncüoğlu, Bertrand Lefebvre

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Articulated echinoderm remains are described for the first time in the Ordovician of Turkey. They occur massively, forming a relatively thick “cystoid bed” within the detrital limestone succession of the Sobova Formation (latest Dapingian–earliest Darriwilian) in the western Taurus Mountains. The “cystoid bed” encompasses a monospecific echinoderm assemblage of densely packed, 3-dimensionally preserved thecae. The presence of numerous suborganised plates with diplopore respiratory structures suggests probable affinities with sphaeronitid blastozoans. Comparable sphaeronitid dense beds are well known in the early Darriwilian of Baltica, and in the mid Darriwilian of the Middle East and Asian terranes.