A Review of the Early Jurassic Belemnites of Crimea, with the First Record of Simpsonibelus (Megateuthididae) Described from the Toarcian

The Toarcian species Simpsonibelus dorsalis (Phillips), first established outside Western Europe, is discussed. A single rostrum of this belemnite species was found in the clay flysch (not in situ) of the Upper Tauric (Yaman) formation of the Yaman Ravine located in the vicinity of the village of Prokhladnoe in the southern part of the Crimean Peninsula. Based on the revision and overview of the available data on the Lower Jurassic belemnites of the Crimea, it was found that the stratigraphic intervals to which their records are confined (Lower Pliensbachian, uppermost Lower Toarcian–Upper Toarcian) fall on the phases of the maximum taxonomic diversity of Early Jurassic belemnites in European seas. The mid- Bifrons chron ( Fibulatum subchron) of early Toarcian appears to have been the most likely time for the migration of the S. dorsalis (Megateuthididae) to the Crimean margin of the Tethys Ocean.