This book consists of a series of papers that help to unravel the
taxonomy of the phylum Brachiopoda and describe associated marine
communities in the Levant. These faunas inhabited shallow shelf
environments near the boundary of the Indo-African and Tethyan faunal
realms near the Jurassic equator along the southern Tethyan margin. This
research is part of a long-term project that aims to delineate the
distribution of brachiopods across faunal realm boundaries and
reconstruct the biogeographic history of the region. The work provides a
more detailed analysis of the endemism that is characteristic of the
faunas of northern Sinai, the Negev and Jordan, and will also aid in the
construction of a biogeographic framework for Jurassic strata in the
Middle East. It represents an important contribution to our knowledge of
the evolution of modern marine communities because their roots lie in
the ecological diversifications of the Jurassic.