New Ordovician fossils (bivalves, trilobites, brachiopods) from southern Jordan and re-evaluation of the regional Ordovician body fossil record

 

Authors: Elicki O

Published in: Bulletin of Geosciences, volume 100, issue 4; pages: 383 - 406; Received 31 March 2025; Accepted in revised form 22 August 2025; Online 28 September 2025

Keywords: Ordovician, palaeontology, Modiolopsis, Kerfornella, Lingulobolus, Jordan, Middle East,

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Abstract

New palaeontological research on the Ordovician succession in southern Jordan is presented. Several bivalve, trilobite and brachiopod taxa as well as three ichnotaxa are new for the region and described: Modiolopsis cf. modiolaris (Conrad, 1838), Kerfornella besnevillensis (Bigot, 1888), Lingulobolus cf. gnaltaensis (Fletcher, 1964), Cruziana perucca Seilacher, 1970, Cruziana pudica (Hall, 1852) and Cruziana barriosi Baldwin, 1977. Additional Ordovician fossil content was collected and is pictured for the first time. The previously published complete Ordovician skeletal fossil fauna from Jordan is critically re-evaluated and significantly reduced in the number of taxa present. This enabled to solve the long-standing, considerable confusion resulting from adherence to erroneous taxonomic reports and incorrect stratigraphic correlations of the fossiliferous strata introduced by early authors. Based on the palaeontological review and new fossil material, the stratigraphic position of the Ordovician depositional formations is revised: the Umm Sahm Formation (hitherto assumed to represent exclusively Lower Ordovician) seems to reach significantly higher up until the Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician); the Hiswah Formation is upper to late Darriwilian in age; the overlaying Dubaydib Formation starts not before the late Darriwilian, but mainly represents a Sandbian age (Late Ordovician); the Tubayliyat Formation is primarily deposited in the Katian. The revised and updated Ordovician fossil record from Jordan is typical for this palaeogeographic sector of high-latitude Gondwana and shows close relations to other regions of the Middle East (e.g. Saudi Arabia), to south-western Europe and to northern Africa.

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