SOME EARLY TRIASSIC AMMONOIDS FROM THE NORTHERN CAUCASUS

Ammonoids of early Upper Scythian age are described from three localities in the Northern Caucasus. No data on relative stratigraphic position is given, but some forms are common to the different exposures and the author concludes that all the ammonoids are Upper Scythian (Olenekian). Affinites with Pacific faunas are stressed and the faunules are correlated with the Owenites zone of North America. Two new genera (Parinyoites and Subowenites) and three new species (Dieneroceras caucasicum, Parinyoites ,mastykensis, Subovvenites slavini)are proposed. Flemingites pulcher Waagen, Wyomingites aplanatus (White), Parussuria compressa (Hyatt and Smith), and Owenites koeneni (Hyatt and Smith) are described and figured. Parinyoites differs from Metinyoites in having rounded saddles and it lacks the keel and costation of Inyoites. Subowenites has reticulate ornamentation, unlike Owenites, Parowenites, and Pseudowenites; it also lacks the adventive notches in the median saddle of Pseudowenites. --E. T. Tozer.