Biogeography of early Devonian chitinozoa

The relationship between Early Devonian chitinozoan assemblages from Australia and those of the rest of the world is investigated using simple statistical procedures including the number of taxa in common and the Dice Similarity Coefficient. A moderate degree of generic provincialism is established with 32% of Early Devonian genera being absent from Australian strata, namely Armoricochitina, Cingulochitina, Linochitina, Margachitina, Urnochitina, and Urochitina. In contrast to pre-Devonian times, there is no evidence of provincialism based on paleolatitude. The genera Ancyrochitina, Angochitina, Bursachitina, Calpichitina, Eisenackitina, Fungochitina, Gotlandochitina, Hoegisphaera, Sphaerochitina, and possibly Muscochitina and Bulbochitina are found to be relatively cosmopolitan in distribution.