First record of post-middle Desmoinesian (Late Carboniferous) brachiopods in the Great Basin (USA): Implications for faunal migration in response to Late Paleozoic paleogeography

摘要

A brachiopod fauna from the Hogan Formation near Skunk Springs, western Utah, in the eastern Great Basin, USA, includes only the new taxon Duartea bruntoni n. sp., and other brachiopod taxa described for the first time in North America. The faunas are considered to be late Moscovian (late Desmoinesian) in age, which represents the first record of post-middle Desmoinesian brachiopod faunas within the Pennsylvanian of the Great Basin. Systematic analyses of the faunas suggest strong affinities with brachiopods previously described in South America and Russia, confirming the idea of faunal migration into the Great Basin. The migration of these faunas appears to correlate with the development of new oceanic currents in response to paleogeographic changes related to the formation of the Late Palcozoic Pangea.