Early Cretaceous Toxasterid Echinoid Heteraster from the high Zagros basin, south of Iran

Abstract

Two species of spatangoid echinoid belonging to Heteraster Orbigny, 1853, are described from Lower Cretaceous deposits (Gadvan and Dariyan formations) at the Kuh-e Gadvan and Banesh sections situated in Zagros Mountains, south of Iran. Heteraster couloni (Agassiz, 1839) is confirmed in the Barremian and Heteraster delgadoi (Loriol, 1884) in the late Aptian-Albian of Iran. The occurrences of Heteraster and other spatangoid echinoids in Iran show a clear distinction between assemblages from the southern and northern margins of the Tethys during the Early Cretaceous.