Revisiting Late Pennsylvanian (Kasimovian) Corals of Egypt: New perspectives and contributions

The Kasimovian basal calcareous/dolomitic mudstone beds of the lower member of the Aheimer Formation in the Northern Galala Plateau (western side of the Gulf of Suez) harbor a distinctive assemblage of rugose corals, marking the youngest Carboniferous coral fauna from the southern margin of the western Palaeotethys, that is to say along the northern margin of western Gondwana. This study presents new taxonomic insights into this unique coral fauna, describing three species from the Antiphyllidae and Plerophyllidae families, including the newly identified Monophyllum maxima sp. nov. and two yet unnamed species of Monophyllum sp. and Ufimia sp. The coral association recovered from the Aheimer Formation are generally simple structured and non-dissepimented. Colonial rugosa are missing and tabulate corals are very rare. Comparisons with global taxa and paleogeographic considerations suggest connections with northern Spain and the Cordilleran–Arctic–Uralian realm.