Middle Ordovician strophomenoid brachiopods from the high latitude Gondwanan shelves (Central Spain) and their travel route.

Two strophomenoid brachiopods from the Middle Ordovician of the Toledo Mountains, Central Spain, representing the first arrival of the group to the high latitude Gondwanan shelves are described. They are the new genus and species Oretanomena meloui, from the Navas de Estena Shales and Río Shales, Oretanian (mid Darriwilian) in age, and Dactylogonia asturica, from the Guindo Shales, Dobrotivian (late Darriwilian) in age. Oretanomena is a primitive strophomenid of concavo-convex, dorsally geniculate profile, very close to the Iranian Semnanostrophia. They both settled during mid Darriwilian times on the high latitude Gondwanan shelves, much probably originating from South China ancestors after a migration along the western Gondwanan coast. Dactylogonia asturica settled on the Iberian platform slightly later, during the late Darriwilian, as the result of the dispersion of its genus from Laurentia, crossing the Iapetus Ocean up to Avalonia, and then also the Rheic Ocean, up to the Mediterranean margin of Gondwana. Dactylogonia is added to other rare rhynchonelliform brachiopods that succeeded in crossing the Rheic Ocean, during a time of strong faunal isolation of the high latitude margin of Gondwan