Brachiopods from the historical type area of the Visean Stage (Carboniferous, Mississippian; Belgium) and the Vise fauna: preliminary remarks

The quarries located to the south of Vise, in southeastern Belgium, correspond to historical type area of the Visean Stage (Carboniferous, Mississippian) and yielded an extremely rich macrofauna (known as the Vise fauna), including mainly brachiopods and mollusks (bivalves, gastropods, cephalopods), and also corals, trilobites and bryozoans, that are found in institutional collections all over the world. The Vise fauna is of late early Warnantian (late Asbian) age and was essentially recovered from a microbial buildup of Cracoean affinities that was exploited only in the quarries F and G sensu Horion and Gosselet's (1892) terminology. Only the rugose corals have been revised, and the rest requires a complete taxonomic reassessment. Brachiopods are particularly diverse, and many genera (Productida, Orthida, Rhynchonellida, Terebratulida) were established in the past on the basis of type species from Vise. Productides are by far the most common elements of the brachiopod association, with the development of aberrant morphologies (Proboscidella, Striatifera). Some terebratulides and mollusks display 'colour' bandings that have been preserved. Two so-called Carboniferous species described by de Koninck (1887), namely Rhynchonella solitaris and Spirifer capillaris, are middle or late Frasnian in age.