The late Frasnian rhynchonellid genus Pammegetherhynchus (Brachiopoda) in Poland, and its relevance to the Kellwasser Crisis

Abstract

The rhynchonellid species, Pammegetherhynchus kowalaensis sp. n., occurs in the late Frasnian (Early to Late Palmatolepis rhenana, and possibly early Palmatolepis linguiformis conodont zones) marly-bituminous succession at Kowala (various outcrops) in the Galezice Syncline, south of Kielce in the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland. The only other known species of this genus is the type species, Pammegetherhynchus merodae Sartenaer, 1977, from the late Frasnian (somewhere in the Early and Late Palmatolepis rhenana Zones) of the French Fagne (dark shales of `Matagne' aspect), and, probably, of the Eifel (`Budesheimer Goniatitenschiefer'). P. kowalaensis sp. n. occurred in level-bottom pioneer assemblages, thriving in reef downslope, mostly poorly-oxygenated habitats of the Kellwasser interval. The species finally disappeared near the Frasnian-Famennian boundary. The genus Pammegetherhynchus seems to be particularly suited to stressed deep-water shelf environments in the European part of the Laurussian shelf, widely distributed in this crisis time.