A associação fossilífera do Devónico da localidade de Serra (Rates, Noroeste de Portugal) revisitada: contributo para a valorização geopatrimonial de uma área clássica do Paleozoico Ibérico

A fossil site from the Devonian stratigraphic succession of Rates (Northwest of Portugal) was studied, being representative of a fauna of marine invertebrates typical of this System. The outcrop is located 35 km north of Oporto, an extension of the Palaeozoic units known from the Valongo Anticline. The studied unit consist of yellowish clayey schists belonging to the “upper Member” of the “Telheiras Formation”, yielding an abundant and diverse assemblage formed by corals, bryozoans, brachiopods, tentaculites, crinoids and trilobites, which is correlative of the Pragian–Emsian. The genus Pleurodictyum stands out, here represented through specimens morphologically distinctive of the type-species P. problematicum, frequently mentioned in previous studies on the Devonian of Portugal. With the inaccessibility of most of the Lower Devonian classic fossil localities in this region, this discovery and knowledge review aims to enhance the geological heritage of one of the classic areas of the Iberian Palaeozoic, complementing that one from the protected area of the “Parque das Serras do Porto”.