New chitinozoan species from the Saih Nihayda Formation, Middle Ordovician of the Sultanate of Oman

During extensive investigations carried out recently on the chitinozoans from the Middle Ordovician Saih Nihayda Formation in the Sultanate of Oman, four new chitinozoan species have been discovered among classical Darriwilian components. These new chitinozoan species, Euconochitina sheridani sp. nov., Belonechitina ghabaensis sp. nov., Desmochitina omanensis sp. nov. and Desmochitina mortoni sp. nov., are described and illustrated from rich populations recovered from Ghaba-1H1 well core samples. The new species also occur in other Oman wells and some in other Gondwanan localities. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.