A late Furongian trilobite assemblage from the eastern Cordillera Oriental (Santa Rosita Formation; Jujuy, Argentina) and its biostratigraphic significance

Abstract

The trilobite Parabolina frequens argentina Zone is widely represented in the upper Furongian of northwestern Argentina. A fossil assemblage from the lower Santa Rosita Formation at Quebrada de Abra Blanca, Jujuy Province, is described herein. Parabolina frequens argentina (Kayser) and Parabolinella coelatifrons Harrington & Leanza have previously been reported from other localities of the biozone, whereas Lotagnostus hedini (Troedsson) is here described from South America for the first time. The latter provides high resolution data on the age of the P. frequens argentina Zone in the eastern Cordillera Oriental, where conodont-bearing strata have not been found yet. L. hedini exhibits a short biostratigraphic range, restricted to the latest Furongian of China (Xinjiang, Bulbolenus Zone; western Zhejiang, Lotagnostus hedini Zone), Kazakhstan (Euloma limitaris-Taoyuania Zone) and ?Canada (western Newfoundland, Phylacterus saylesi Fauna). In China and Kazakhstan, it occurs in association with, or a few meters below, the first appearance of the conodont Cordylodus proavus; a fact that increases the potential for global correlation.