DISCOVERY OF PARATIROLITES FROM THE BELLEROPHON FORMATION (UPPER PERMIAN, DOLOMITES, ITALY)

Abstract

The first discovery of Paratirolites in the western Tethys is here described. The ammonoid was collected in the debris of the Bellerophon Fm. near Santa Cristina Valgardena (Bolzano, Dolomites). The specimen is contained in a small slab made of marly dark grey limestone with a biomicrofacies dominated by ostracods. It probably comes from the Ostracod Assemblage beds (Badiota Facies), which are situated few metres below the Comelicania beds. The occurrence of Paratirolites allow us to date this segment of the upper Bellerophon Fm. to the late Dorashamian, and to define the Comelicania and Nankinella beds of the Dolomites as younger than the Phisonites - Comelicania (= Gruntallina) beds of the Transcaucasia (basal Dorashamian). This assemblage is equivalent to or younger than the Paratirolites Zone (late Dorashamian).