Early Jurassic corals with dominating solitary growth forms from the Kasamurg Mountains, Central Asia

First description of two Early Jurassic shallow-water coral faunas differing in age and ecological type is presented from the middle Afghanistan, the Nalbandon River area at the Kasamurg Mountains range. Hettangian/Sinemurian corals consist mainly of solitary and phaceloid forms: solitary Amphiastreid Coral A, Archaeosmilia duncani, Fungiaphyllia communis n. gen. n. sp., Fungiaphyllia? sp., Oppelismilia aff. gemmans, O. spectabilis n. sp., Parepismilia dronovi n. sp., P dolichostoma n. sp., solitary Stylophyllopsis sp., phaceloid Thecactinastraea fasciculata, and rare colonial corals, cerioid Guembelastraea dronovi n. sp. and Stephanastrea sp., as well as some indeterminable forms. The second fauna, close to Pliensbachian-Toarcian border, contains Fungiaphyllia communis. Two families are described as new, family Oppelismiliidae and Parepismiliidae. The corals are contained in micrite with fine quartz grains, generally, with remnants of moluscs and echinoderms, in some occurrences with benthic forams and small gastropods. In their growth forms and generic contents the corals partly resemble the Hettangian fauna from British Isles, Hettangian/Sinemurian fauna from the Pamir Mountains, and partly resemble the middle Early Jurassic fauna from Morocco. The corals are discussed from palaeoecological, palaeoenvironmental, and evolutionary aspects. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. and Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, CAS. All rights reserved.