New archaeocyath genus from the early Cambrian of the western Anti-Atlas, Morocco

A new archaeocyathan genus had been discovered in the Issafen Formation of the Tata Group, in the western Anti-Atlas of Morocco. It had been identified and assigned to the family Carinacyathidae, which was previously known to have existed in Mongolia, Russia and Morocco during the later early Cambrian. This newly described genus and species is named: Fouanoucyathus tafraoutiensis El Bakhouch & Kerner, n. gen., n. sp. This discovery improves significantly our understanding of the morphological evolutionary history among archaeocyaths as well as of the archaeocyath diversification in the western Anti-Atlas of Morocco.