Late Ordovician brachiopods from Taimyr, Arctic Russia, and their palaeogeographical significance

Diverse brachiopod faunas are recorded and partly described from the Korotkinskaya Formation of the central Taimyr Peninsula, northern Siberia, Russia. The lowest fauna (Beds 2 and 3) includes eight species of indeterminate late Ordovician age, the main fauna (Bed 4) consists of 39 species of mid Ashgill age, and the highest fauna (Beds 8 and 9), four species of late mid Ashgill age. The new species Amphiplecia bondarevi, Cyclospira orbus, Eospirigerina vetusta and Plectatrypa laticostata are described. Close links are drawn with the brachiopod fauna of the Boda Limestone (middle Ashgill) of Dalarna, Sweden, including the identification from Taimyr of forms hitherto considered typical of Dalarna. There are no comparable faunas from rocks of the same age on the now adjacent Siberian Platform. These data strengthen the case for the Taimyr Peninsula forming part of the palaeocontinent of Baltica during the late Ordovician.