Brachiopod fauna of the kokoamu greensand (Oligocene), New Zealand

Abstract

Fourteen species of articulate brachiopods (the so‐called Liothyrella landonensis fauna of Thomson 1926) are recorded from the late Oligocene (Duntroonian) Kokoamu Greensand, an extensive and generally thin blanket of highly glauconitic, fine to medium‐grained sandstone covering some 3000 km2 of the North Otago ‐ South Canterbury region of the eastern South Island, New Zealand. Two new genera, Landonella and Praemagadina, and three new species, Landonella laqueiforrnis, Praemagadina campbelli, and Magadina squiresi, are described. Liothyrella landonensis Thomson, 1918 is reassigned to the genus Acrobrochus Cooper, 1983. The diagnostic criteria and taxonomic composition of the Family Terebratellidae King, 1850 as defined by Elliott and Hatai (1965) are re‐evaluated. The diagnostic criteria of the Subfamily Anakineticinae Richardson, 1991 are critically appraised; a revised diagnosis for the Subfamily Anakineticinae is introduced. The Subfamily Terebratellinae King, 1850 is retained; the Subfamily Neothyridinae Allan, 1940 is abandoned as taxonomically unsound. The new Subfamily Stethothyridinae is introduced. The distribution and relative abundance of the more commonly occurring brachiopods in the Kokoamu Greensand at five localities are quantified. © The Royal Society of New Zealand 1993.