Middle Devonian and Frasnian bryozoan fauna from the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland

The present paper describes a bryozoan fauna from the Devonian of Holy Cross Mountains (Poland) which includes nine species. Six species were described from the Dobruchna Member of the Skały Formation (Eifelian) of Skały section: Cyclotrypa sp., Fistuliphragma gracilis, Leioclema passitabulatum, Intrapora leunisseni, Laxifenestella sp., Hemitrypella nodulosa. The cryptostome species Bigeyella indigena was identified from the Laskowa Góra Beds (upper Givetian) of Józefka Hill at Górno. The fenestrate Rectifenestella sp. is described from the lower Frasnian Kowala Formation (Kadzielnia Member) of Bolechowice and Kielce. The new monotypic fenestrate genus Juanopora elegans gen. et sp. nov. is described from the Wietrznia Beds (upper Givetian) of Wietrznia-I quarry at Kielce. The described bryozoans show palaeobiogeographical connections to the Middle–Upper Devonian of Germany, Spain, and Armenia. The bryozoan faunas of the Holy Cross Mountains are in accordance with the worldwide acme of the sessile filter-feeding benthos during the Givetian age, followed by a two-stage decline in diversity due to the Taghanic and Frasnian crises.