Bull. nat. Hist. Mils. Loud. (Geo\.) 57(2): \\5-\62 ' '' '"- — J>'^'-' "^ ' ^ Issued 29 November 2001 



xy/^ipDo^^^ y J 



Palynological zonation of Mid-Palaeozoic 

 sequences from the Cantabrian Mountains, 

 NW Spain: implications for inter-regional and 

 interfacies correlation of the Ludford/Pf idoli 

 and Silurian/Devonian boundaries, and plant 

 dispersal patterns 



JOHN B. RICHARDSON 



Department of Palaeontology, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD 



ROSA M. RODRIGUEZ 



Departamento de Ingenieria Minera, Universidad de Leon, C/Jesus Rubio 2, 24071 Leon, Spain 



STUART J. E. SUTHERLAND 



Department of Geology, University of British Columbia, 6339 Stores Road, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 

 124, Canada 



CONTENTS 



Introduction 116 



Geographical & geological setting 1 16 



San Pedro Formation 1 17 



Age and biozones of the San Pedro Formation 1 17 



Spores 118 



Biozonation 1 18 



Age of the biozones and inter-regional palynological correlation 123 



Spore biozones 123 



Laurussia-Gondwana spore distribution patterns 126 



Chitinozoa 129 



Geras 129 



Argovejo 130 



LaVid 131 



LaPeral 132 



Comparison of the chitinozoans from the Cantabrian Mountains with coeval sections and the global biozonation scheme .. 133 



Silurian global Chitinozoan biozonation 135 



Biostratigraphical conclusions 135 



Materials and methods 136 



Taxonomy of selected spore taxa 136 



Anteturma Sporites H. Potonie 1893 136 



Subturma Azonotriletes Luber 1935 136 



Genus Retusotriletes (Naumova) Richardson 1965 136 



Genus Apiculiretusispora Streel 1964 138 



Genus Breconisporites Richardson et al. 1982 138 



Infraturma Murornati Potonie <& Kremp 1954 141 



Genus Emphanisporites McGregor 1961 141 



Subturma Zonotriletes Waltz 1935 in Luber & Waltz 1938 142 



Infraturma Crassiti Bharadwaj & Venkatachala 1961 142 



GenvLi Ambitisporites WofimtMX-tr 1959 I'^2 



Genus Scylaspora Burgess & Richardson 1995 142 



Genus Concentricosisporites Rodriguez 1983 146 



Genus Iberoespora Cramer & Diez 1975 146 



Genus Leonispora Cramer & Diez 1975 149 



Genus Streelispora (Richardson & Lister) Richardson efo/. 1982 149 



Genus Aneurospora Streel 1964 149 



Genus Coronaipora Rodriguez 1979 emend 149 



Infraturma Patinati Butterworth & Williams 1958 155 



Genus Cheimospora M\en 1965 155 



)The Natural History Museum, 2001 



