Furongian Linguliform Brachiopods from the Alborz Mountains, Iran

Micromorphic linguliform brachiopods are described for the first time from the Furongian part of the Cambrian Mila Formation, eastern Alborz Mountains, Iran. The assemblage is dominated by acrotretides, including Dactylotreta lamellosa n. sp. and Ottenbyella hyrcanica n. sp. as well as species of the new genera Tapuritreta (T. angusta n. sp.) and Sadrocarta (S. delicatus). The siphonotretide Siphonobolus sp. also occurs in abundance, which is unusual for Furongian lingulate faunas. The newly discovered assemblage shows little similarity to contemporaneous faunas of Laurentia, Baltica and Kazakhstanian terranes, but S. delicatus is also known from the middle Furongian Series of the Malyi Karatau Range in southern Kazakhstan.