Latest Famennian (UD−VI, “Strunian”) brachiopod fauna from Kowala (Kielce Region, Holy Cross Mountains, Poland)
consists of eighteen species within 6 orders, eleven of them reported in open nomenclature. Characteristic taxa include: Schellwienella pauli, Aulacella interlineata, Sphenospira julii, Novaplatirostrum sauerlandense, Hadyrhyncha sp., Cleiothyridina struniensis. New morphological details of Schellwienella pauli, Sphenospira julii, and Aulacella interlineata are provided. The described latest Famennian brachiopod fauna is distinctly richer than that from underlying upper Famennian deposits (11 species within 4 orders). Majority of species from Kowala seem to have been adapted to deep water settings and/or poor nutrient availability. The stratigraphic separation between Planovatirostrum in the UD−III to UD−V and Novaplatirostrum in the UD−VI observed in Sauerland and in Thuringia is valid also in the Holy Cross Mountains. This is the first comprehensive report of a relatively diversified latest Famennian brachiopod fauna from surface outcrops of Poland.

Key words: Brachiopoda, Late Devonian, Famennian, Strunian, Holy Cross Mountains, Poland.

Adam T. Halamski [ath@twarda.pan.pl] and Andrzej Baliński [balinski@twarda.pan.pl], Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Paleobiology, ul. Twarda 51/55, PL−00−818 Warszawa, Poland.