Bull. nat. Hist. Mus. Lond. (Geol.) 58(1): 13-79 Issued 27 June 2002 



Upper Ordovician brachiopods from the 

 Anderken Formation, Kazakhstan: their 

 ecology and systematics 



L.E. POPOV 



Department of Geology, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff CF 10 3NP 



L.R.M. COCKS 



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



I.F. NIKITIN 



Institute of Geological Sciences, Almaty 480100, Kazakhstan 



CONTENTS 



Synopsis 13 



Introduction 13 



Outline of geology and fossil localities 14 



Faunal Associations 22 



Overall palaeoecology 26 



Systematic palaeontology 27 



Linguloidea 28 



Discinoidea 28 



Siphonotretoidea 30 



Craniopsoidea 30 



Strophomenoidea 30 



Plectambonitoidea 38 



Chilidiopsoidea 53 



Triplesioidea 53 



Protorthoidea 58 



Orthoidea 58 



Plectorthoidea 61 



Enteletoidea 64 



Camarelloidea 64 



Rhynchotrematoidea 74 



Lissatrypoidea 76 



Meristelloidea 76 



Acknowledgments 77 



References 77 



SYNOPSIS. The brachiopod fauna from the Anderken Formation ( Lower to Middle Caradoc) of the Chu-Ili Range, south-eastern 

 Kazakhstan, is revised and described systematically. It consists of 62 species in 55 genera, of which the genera Tesikella, 

 Olgambonites and Zhilgyzambonites (all Plectambonitoidea) and llistrophina (Camarelloidea) are new, and the species Bellimurina 

 (Bellimurina) sarytumensis, Teratelasmella chugaevae, Foliomena prisca, Acculina kulanketpesica, Dulankarella larga, Kajnaria 

 rugosa, Anoptambonites convexus, Olgambonites insolita, Zhilgyzambonites extenuata, Gacella institata, Placotriplesia spissa, 

 Grammoplecia wrighti, Dolerorthis pristiua, Austinella sarybulakensis, Plectorthis ? burultasica, Bowanorthis? devexa, Pionodema 

 opima, Parastrophina iliana, llistrophina tesikensis, Liostrophia pravula, Plectosyntrophia unicostata, Rhynchotrema akchokense 

 and Nikolaispira guttula are new. Six brachiopod-dominated assemblages are recognised and defined, termed the Ectenoglossa, 

 Tesikella, Mabe/Ia-Sowerbyella, Acculina-Dulankarella, Parastrophina- Kellerella and Zhilgyzambonites-Foliomena Associa- 

 tions. The relationships with contemporary faunas are assessed, and the Anderken brachiopods appear to have much in common 

 with those of north-west China. 



INTRODUCTION 



_ _ separate crustal fragments of variable size. The relative positions of 



these fragments are contentious; some authors, notably Sengor & 



Natalin (1996), consider that most of the fragments made up an 



The global geography of the Lower Palaeozoic has been the subject enormous island arc. termed the Kipchak Arc, which stretched in a 



of widespread international discussion in recent years (references in long curve all the way from the substantial craton of Baltica to the 



Cocks 2001 ), but much is not yet clear. In the Ordovician, the large central Siberian Angaran craton. Others, for example Nikitin, have 



area of what is today Kazakhstan was then divided into many subdivided Kazakhstan in other ways, with a more conservative 



© The Natural History Museum, 2002 



