The first record of Hirnantian Ostracoda in South America: implications for the biostratigraphy and paleozoogeography of the Paraná basin

Herein is reported the first occurrence of ostracodes from the Iapó Formation, an uppermost Ordovician unit of the Rio Ivaí Group in the Paraná basin, Brazil. Two ostracode species were identified in the Três Barras Farm section: Harpabollia harparum (Troedsson, 1918) and Satiellina paranaensis Adôrno and Salas in Adôrno et al., 2016 were recovered from dropstone-bearing shale overlying glaciogenic diamictites, a feature typical of Hirnantian (uppermost Ordovician) strata throughout Gondwana. The taxonomy of the Genus Harpabollia, as well as its type species Harpabollia harparum, was reviewed, and emended and new diagnoses were respectively proposed for each taxon. Occurrences of Harpabollia harparum and Satiellina species were common in areas influenced by cold waters. Additionally, the occurrence of Harpabollia harparum, an index species to the uppermost Ordovician of several stratigraphic units in Baltica and southern Gondwana, allowed us to infer a Hirnantian age for the deposits of the Iapó Formation. Other than being associated with Harpabollia harparum in Iapó Formation of the Paraná basin, Satiellina paranaensis is also found in lower levels of the Vila Maria Formation; therefore, these are also considered Hirnantian in age. Above these lower levels of the Vila Maria Formation, a well-dated Rhuddanian (lowermost Llandovery, Silurian) palynomorph assemblage is observed within the formation. These occurrences are evidence of a continuous process of sedimentary deposition during the Ordovician–Silurian transition in the Paraná basin.