Cambrian phosphatic brachiopods from the Precordillera of western Argentina

The first Cambrian phosphatic brachiopods (Subphylum Linguliformea, Class L ingulata) are described from the San Juan Precordillera of western Argentin a, including Neotreta tumida Sobolev, Quadrisonia minor Rowell & Henderson, Prototreta cf. mimica Bell, Curticia sp., Opisthotreta sp. and the new spe cies Dactylotreta sanjuanensis and Picnotreta robusta. The faunas are of Mi ddle to Late Cambrian age and originate from Cambrian allochthonous materia l within the Ordovician Los Sombreros Formation, as well as from material f rom within the parautochthonous Upper Cambrian/Lower Ordovician Cerro Pelad o and El Relincho formations. The described Argentinean faunas are most sim ilar to contemporaneous assemblages from southeastern Siberia, but are also comparable with lingulate faunas from North America and Greenland.