New Kingenoid Brachiopods from the Early Cretaceous Iron Ore Related Environment of Zengővárkony (Mecsek Mts, Hungary, Europe)

The Lower Cretaceous tiny iron ore deposit at Zengővarkony (Mecsek Mts, South Hungary, Europe) provided new brachiopod taxa of Kingenoid relationship. Dictyothyropsis vogli nov. sp, Zittelina hofmanni nov. sp. and Smirnovina ferraria nov. sp. are introduced representing Late Valanginian to Earliest Hauterivian age. The new taxa strengthen the presence of the Early Cretaceous biogeographical connections with the Western Carpathians and the Pieniny Klippen Belt of South Poland. The biometry of the newly described taxa refer to significantly greater mean dimensions, which is in line with previous research on brachiopods from this environment. These brachiopods lived in a nutrient-rich unique environment related to the iron-ore deposition linked to a former hydrothermal activity on the ocean floor that resulted the size growth of brachiopods.