A LATE CRETACEOUS TEREBRATULID BRACHIOPOD FROM JAMAICA, AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE FOR MESOZOIC BRACHIOPOD PALEOBIOGEOGRAPHY AND EVOLUTION

Recent fieldwork has accumulated collections of terebratulid brachiopo ds from Late Cretaceous strata on Jamaica referrable to the genus Dysc ritothyris Cooper. This is confirmed by the preparation of serial sect ions of the internal structures of one well-preserved specimen. The on ly other record of this genus is from the Late Cretaceous rocks of Cub a. The specimens from Jamaica and Cuba are considered to belong to the same species, confirming oceanographic links between these islands du ring the Late Cretaceous, already apparent from similarities between t heir rudist bivalve and echinoid faunas. The small-sized Dyscritothyri s is considered to be a Late Cretaceous derivative of the Cretaceous t erebratulid Capillithyris which has been described primarily from Euro pe. Such a relationship would support models for the dispersal and evo lution of brachiopods during the continued opening of the Central Atla ntic Ocean during the Cretaceous.