Ordovician echinoderms from the Tabas and Damghan regions, Iran: palaeobiogeographical implications

Two echinoderm assemblages are described in the Middle Ordovician of Iran (Darriwilian). The Simeh Kuh section (Damghan area, eastern Alborz range) has yielded a rich and diverse blastozoan fauna consisting of fistuliporite (Echinosphaerites, Heliocrinites) and dichoporite rhombiferans (cheirocrinids indet., hemicosmitids indet.), as well as aristocystitid (Sinocystis) and sphaeronitid diploporites (Glyptosphaerites, Tholocystis). Heliocrinites, cheirocrinids, hemicosmitids, Glyptosphaerites, and Tholocystis are reported for the first time in the Ordovician of Iran. A less diverse assemblage was collected in the Shirgesht section (Tabas area, Derenjal Mountains), and represents the first report of Ordovician echinoderms in east-central Iran. The Shirgesht fauna includes fistuliporite rhombiferans (Hetiocrinites), aristocystitid and sphaeronitid diploporites. The new Iranian material documents some of the earliest known assemblages of diploporites and rhombiferans, and thus, brings important information on the radiation of these two major blastozoan classes. The two Iranian echinoderm faunas show relatively strong affinities with contemporary faunas from Baltica, the northern Gondwanan margin (e.g. Bohemia, Morocco), Sibumasu, and South China terranes. Aristocystitids suggest stronger links between Iran, and regions from the "Province Amphorides" (northern Gondwanan margin, Sibumasu, South China). These observations support a palaeogeographical position of Iran at intermediate palaeolatitudes during the early Middle Ordovician, in the periphery of the northeastern Gondwanan margin.