Silicified kirkbyoid ostracodes from the Cantabrian Mountains (Spain) bear a striking resemblance to those of the Carnic Alps (Austria and Italy). The Spanish ostracodes come from the upper part of the Cuera Limestones (Bashkirian-upper Moscovian), which are exposed along the Playa de la Huelga section (Ponga Nappe) in the coastal area of eastern Asturias, northern Spain. These fossils were collected from upper Moscovian limestones deposited in an outer-platform environment. Most of the material from the Carnic Alps was obtained from the Nassfeld Pass area (eastern Carnic Alps), near the Austrian-Italian border, in limestones of the Kasimovian-Gzhelian Auernig Group and the Lower Permian Rattendorf Group. The several Auernig Group limestones that contain silicified ostracodes were deposited in a shallow-marine environment.Despite the differences in age (according to fusulinids and conodonts), these kirkbyoids are very similar and in some cases identical. Coronakirkbya pramolla new species and Kirkbya carniacantabrica new species occur in both areas. Two other pairs of species, Coronakirkbya krejcigrafi Becker, 1978, and Coronakirkbya carina new species, and Aurikirkbya cf. beckeri (Kozur, 1990) and Aurikirkbya carinthica new species, show close affinities, though they are considered to be different species. Most of the species described herein are either very rare or absent in other regions.The close paleobiogeographic relationships between the Cantabrian Mountains and the Carnic Alps, documented previously only by brachiopods, are confirmed.
Namurian (Upper Carboniferous) shallow marine and turbiditic sediments, Clare, western Ireland