Pre-Taghanic (Lower to lower Middle Givetian) brachiopods from Miłoszów in the Holy Cross Mountains (Poland)

Sixty-eight brachiopod species are reported from the upper part of the Skały Formation at Miłoszów (Łysogóry Region of the Holy Cross Mts., central Poland) on the basis of over 2,200 specimens. The fauna is Early to early Middle Givetian in age (timorensis to rhenanus/varcus conodont zones) and thus predates the Middle Givetian Taghanic Bioevent. One new genus and three new species are described. Leiocyrtia Baliński gen. nov. (type species: Leiocyrtia rara Baliński gen. et sp. nov.; Spiriferida, Cyrtiidae) is characterised by a non-costate shell with prominent sulcus and fold and capillate microornament. Undispirifer sidoniae Halamski and Baliński sp. nov. is characterised by transverse shells and dense ribbing. Moravilla andreae Baliński and Halamski sp. nov. is characterised by relatively coarse radial capillate ornament and is the first representative of the genus outside the type species from the Givetian of Moravia. The most abundant species are: Spinulicosta cf. spinulicosta, Antirhynchonella linguiformis, Pentamerelloides davidsoni, Peratos beyrichi, Plectospira ferita, Spinatrypa wotanica (confirmed to belong to that genus and not to Spinatrypina), Ambothyris sp., and Echinocoelia dorsoplana. ‘Spirifer’ quadriplicatus Sandberger and Sandberger, 1856, a rare species known from Miłoszów and the Rhenish Massif, is an orthide and belongs to Teichertina. The relationship between Skenidioides polonicus and S. cretus, formerly understood as anagenesis, is re-interpreted as budding cladogenesis. Davidsonia septata is reported as an epizoan on rugosan corals, a relationship never previously observed in representatives of that genus. Brachiopods represent different palaeoecological groupings, from relatively shallow-water taxa (BA3, globetum) to deep-water mud-dwelling ones (BA5, deeper brachiopodetum). The richest beds are M1-IIa (28 brachiopod species), M3-7 (23 species), and M0-9 (22 species). Eighteen species described here were not known previously in the Holy Cross Mountains, so the corrected total number of brachiopod species from the Middle Devonian of the Łysogóry Region is 140.