The oldest Cambrian trilobites from the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland: taxonomic, stratigraphic and biogeographic reappraisal

Abstract

Authorship issues are clarified, new photographic documentation is provided and emended systematic descriptions are presented for the oldest Cambrian trilobite taxa from the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland). Biostratigraphic analysis of the fauna allows correlation with the traditional Holmia kjerulfi-group Zone of Scandinavia, the Callavia Zone of Britain and Newfoundland, the lower and middle part of the Sectigena Zone of Morocco and the Marianian Stage of Spain. The trilobites display a strong biogeographic signal linked with West Gondwana and Avalonia and a suggestion is made that the TESZ margin of Baltica with the Małopolska Massif was liable to currents from those areas that distributed planktonic trilobite larvae.