Two more Bohemian trilobites from the Ordovician of Portugal and Morocco

Abstract

Two trilobite species so far exclusive from the Dobrotivá Formation of the Prague Basin are reported for the first time outside Bohemia. The first is represented by a single specimen of Dindymene plasi Kielan, 1960 that occurs in Portugal within the Valongo Formation near Beloi, on the western flank of the Valongo Anticline (Central Iberian Zone). The second is Ectillaenus benignensis (Novák, 1918), recorded by eight articulated specimens which come from two different formations of the First Bani Group of the Moroccan eastern Anti-Atlas, located, respectively, in the upper part of the Guezzart Formation and near the top of the Ouine-Inirne Formation, both in the Jbel Bou Issidane section south of Alnif. All these occurrences are of Dobrotivian age (= late Darriwilian in the global timescale) and reinforce the palaeobiogeographical links within the north Gondwana platform. They are of special interest as it adds to a small group of species roughly coeval over a large area, and is of particular relevance for pre-Variscan palaeogeographic reconstructions.