Anabarella australis (Mollusca, Helcionelloida) from the Lower Cambrian of Greenland Anabarella australis (Mollusca, Helcionelloida) du Cambrien inférieur du Groenland Alexander P. Gubanov *, Christian B. Skovsted, John S. Peel Department of Earth Sciences (Palaeobiology), Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 22, 752 36 Uppsala, Sweden Received 27 September 2002; accepted 21 May 2003 Abstract The Early Cambrian helcionelloid mollusc Anabarella australis is described from North-East Greenland, representing the second occur- rence of the species outside of Australia. Other Australian molluscs of this age are known from many localities including North China, Siberia, Altai, Transbaikalia, southern Kazakhstan, Mongolia, eastern Germany and Spain. These records, supported now by A. australis, demonstrate the close proximity of continents in the Early Cambrian. © 2004 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved. Résumé Le mollusque helcionelloïdé du Cambrien inférieur Anabarella australis est décrit dans le nord-est du Groenland. Cette espèce n’était connue auparavant qu’en Australie. D’autres mollusques australiens du même âge sont connus dans de nombreuses localités, notamment dans le nord de la Chine, la Sibérie, l’Altaï, Transbaikalia, le sud du Kazakhstan, la Mongolie, la partie est de l’Allemagne et l’Espagne. Cette répartition géographique, confirmée ici par A. australis, démontre la grande proximité géographique des continents au Cambrien inférieur. © 2004 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved. Keywords: Mollusca; Helcionelloids; Lower Cambrian; Biogeography; North-East Greenland; Australia Mots clés : Mollusques ; Helcionelloïdés ; Cambrien inférieur ; Biogéographie ; Nord-Est du Groenland ; Australie 1. Introduction Anabarella Vostokova, 1962, one of the earliest known hel- cionelloid molluscs, appeared as A. plana Vostokova, 1962 in the late Nemakit-Daldynian-early Tommotian of Siberia (Vostokova, 1962; Rozanov et al., 1969; Bezzubtsev et al., 1979; Val’kov, 1987; Missarzhevsky, 1989; Khomentovsky and Karlova, 1993; Gubanov and Peel, 2003) and surround- ing terranes of Mongolia (Esakova and Zhegallo, 1996) and Kuznetsk Alatau (Pospelov et al., 1995). In a short while, it occupied a vast area that included South China (He andYang, 1982; Jiang, 1982; Xing et al., 1983), Baltica (Lendzion and Posti, 1983; Gubanov, 1998; Mens and Isakar, 1999), peri- Gondwanan Iberia (Gubanov, 1998; Vidal et al., 1999) and Avalonia (Landing et al., 1989). The second species of this genus, A. australis Runnegar in Bengtson et al., 1990, was described from the Early Cambrian of Australia (Bengtson et al., 1990; Gravestock et al., 2001) from an interval equiva- lent to the late Atdabanian – late Botoman of Siberia. In con- trast to the widespread A. plana (Gubanov, * Corresponding author. E-mail address: Gubanov@pal.uu.se (A.P. Gubanov). Geobios 37 (2004) 719–724 http://france.elsevier.com/direct/GEOBIO/ 0016-6995/$ - see front matter © 2004 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2003.05.009