Lower Devonian vertebrate microfossils from Turkey

Abstract

A small sample of vertebrate fish scales, predominantly those of a thelodont agnathan, the turiniid Turinia sp. cf. T. nachoi, and a few from the acanthodian gnathostome Nostovicina laticristata, have been found in the Lower Devonian Güneyyaka Formation in the Ovacik slice of the Tahtalidağ Nappe north of Alanya (Antalya Unit) in the Antalya region, southwest Anatolia, southern Turkey. The area is considered to have been on the northern Gondwana margin at that time. The fish microfossils support a Lochkovian to possible early Pragian at youngest (Early Devonian) age for the limestone beds, and are amongst the oldest known Turkish vertebrate fossils.

Yakut Göncüoglu [[email protected]], Kafkas Sitesi 2481. Sok. No 65 Umitköy-Ankara, Turkey; Carole J. Burrow [[email protected]], Queensland Museum Geosciences, 122 Gerler Road, Hendra Queensland 4011, Australia; Susan Turner [[email protected]], Queensland Museum Geosciences, 122 Gerler Road, Hendra Queensland 4011, Australia; Philippe Janvier [[email protected]], Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, 75005 Paris, France; M. Cemal Göncüoglu [[email protected]], Middle East Technical University (METU), Department of Geological Engineering, 06531 Ankara, Turkey.

Keywords:

• Biostratigraphy
• Thelodonti
• Acanthodii
• Güneyyaka Formation
• Tahtalidağ Nappes
• southern Turkey

Acknowledgements

CJB and ST acknowledge basic support from the Queensland Museum, Brisbane. PJ is grateful to the late Jean Marcoux (University Paris VII) for his help in the field work on the outcrop, and to his wife Noelle Marcoux, and Dr Aymon Baud (Lausanne) in trying to find Jean Marcoux’ field notes. We thank Ebru Albayrak for facilitating donation of the material to the MTA in Ankara. Three referees and the Editorial Board of Alcheringa made helpful comments on the manuscript. We dedicate this work to the late Alain Blieck (1949–2022), a pioneer in the study of Turkish Palaeozoic fossil vertebrates.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).