The Carboniferous fauna of Cerro Veladero, Río Blanco basin, La Rioja province

Abstract

?The Carboniferous fauna of Cerro Veladero, Río Blanco basin, La Rioja province?. A new marine fauna from the Carboniferous deposits of the Río Blanco basin in the western Argentine Precordillera is described and figured. It occurs in the Cerro Veladero area, some 40 km to the northwest of Guandacol, in La Rioja province.

A remarkable characteristic of this particular fauna is that only bivalves, with very few genera and species are present, with total absence of other groups of invertebrates. This empoverished faunal assemblage suggests certain degree of isolation; however, it does not show extreme endemism, and some taxa may be compared to species known from other areas outside the Rio Blanco basin. The fauna of Cerro Veladero may be enrolled in the Interval Zone, in spite of the fact that no visible vinculation can be established with elements of the ?intermediate fauna?.