Corales de la transición siluro-devónica en la Precordillera argentina

Abstract

Very few coral species have been described to date from the Silurian and Devonian rocks of Argentina. An important association of rugose and tabulate corals was collected from the Silurian and Devonian siliciclastic rocks in western Argentina. The coral assemblage was recovered from the Pridolian and Lockovian transition in the Cerro del Fuerte and Talacasto sections in the Argentine Precordillera. The tabulate Argentinella argentina (Thomas) is described and figured, building thick accumulations of gregarious colonies in a shallow, near shore environment associated with a sea level fall in the base of the Lochkovian. From the same levels an indeterminate favositid is also described. In the subjacent Pridolian rocks the solitary rugose Enterolasma sp. and a tabula te, pleurodictyform indet. were recovered from fossil-rich beds associated with tempestites. This is the first record of the genus Enterolasma and the Family Pleurodyictidae in South America.