Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-tsvsl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-29T22:31:10.873Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Species definition in heliolitine corals of the lower Douro Formation (Upper Silurian), Canadian Arctic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2016

Owen A. Dixon
Owen A. Dixon*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Ottawa and Ottawa–Carleton Geoscience Centre, Ottawa K1N 6N5, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Specimens representing Heliolites diligens Bondarenko, 1966, H. aff. H. luxarboreus Yang, 1978, and H. tchernyshevi Bondarenko, 1966, are common and Heliolites sp. and Stelliporella sp. are rare in diverse coral assemblages associated with lithistid sponge reefs in deep shelf or ramp limestone facies of the Douro Formation. Heliolites diligens, a more widely adapted, possibly “opportunist” species, occurs abundantly in lower diversity stromatoporoid/coral assemblages from nonreefal, shallower shelf limestone facies. Detailed systematic study of approximately contemporaneous populations of these Ludlovian heliolitid species shows that all are morphologically variable; assessment of this variability qualitatively and quantitatively is critical to species definition and recognition. Heliolites diligens is the most variable, with wide intercolony variation in septal development, corallite wall configuration, and spacing of horizontal skeletal elements. This apparently represents morphological plasticity rather than differences that can be ascribed to distinct species. Conspecificity of the more extreme and dissimilar variants can be inferred from study of large assemblages of coeval specimens. The other species, with more narrowly defined, discrete variation fields, are more readily distinguished from each other.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 63 , Issue 6 , November 1989 , pp. 819 - 838
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boltovskoy, E. 1965. Twilight of foraminiferology. Journal of Paleontology, 39:383–390.Google Scholar
Bondarenko, O. B. 1966. Geliolitoidei isen'skoy svity, p. 145–197. In Chetverikova, N. P., Sytova, V. A., Ushatinskaya, G. T., Keller, N. B., Bondarenko, O. B., and Ulitina, L. M. (eds.), Stratigrafiya i fauna siluriyskikh i nizhnedevonskikh otlozheniy Nurinskogo sinklinoriya. Materialy po geologii Tsentral'nogo Kazakhstana, 6 (Geological Survey of Canada Translation Series No. 614).Google Scholar
Bondarenko, O. B. 1971. Ob'em novogo semeystva Stelliporellidae (geliolitidy), p. 166–178. In Dubatolov, V. N. (ed.), Tabulyaty i geliolitidy paleozoya SSSR. II Vsesoyuznogo Simposiuma po Izucheniya Iskopaemykh korallov SSSR, Trudy, 1 (Geological Survey of Canada Translation Series No. 572).Google Scholar
Bondarenko, O. B. 1975. Podklass Heliolitoidea, p. 48–61. In Menner, V. V. (ed.), Kharakteristika fauny pogranichnykh sloev silura i devona Tsentral'nogo Kazakhstana. Materialy po geologii Tsentral'nogo Kazakhstana, 12.Google Scholar
Bondarenko, O. B. 1983. The relationships among different “geneses” in fossil colonial corals. Paleontological Journal, 17(3):1–10.Google Scholar
Bondarenko, O. B., and Ultina, L. M. 1976. Ranne-i srednepaleozoyskie korally Mongolii (obsor mestonakhozhdniy), p. 306–326, 363. In Kramerenko, N. N. (ed.), Paleontologiya i biostratigrafiya Mongolii. Sovmestnaya Sovetsko-Mongol'skaya Paleontologicheskaya Ekspeditsiya, Trudy, 3.Google Scholar
Brakel, W. H. 1977. Corallite variation in Porites and the species problem in corals, p. 457–462. In Taylor, D. L. (ed.), Proceedings: Third International Coral Reef Symposium, Miami, Florida, Vol. 1 (Biology).Google Scholar
Chekhovich, V. D. 1972. Novye siluriyskie Geliolites Tuvi, p. 76. In Zanina, I. E. (ed.), Novye vidi drevnikh rastenii i bespozvonochnikh SSSR. Izdatel'stvo Nauka, Moscow.Google Scholar
Chernyshev, B. B. 1937. Verkhnesiluriyskie i devonskie Tabulata Novoy Zemli, Severnoy Zemli, i Taymyra. Vsesoyuznyi Arktichi Institut, Trudy, 91:67–134.Google Scholar
Chernyshev, B. B. 1951. Siluriyskie i devonskie Tabulata i Geliolitida okrain Kuznetskogo uglenosnogo basseyna. Vsesoyuznyi nauchno-issledovatelskii Geologicheskii Institut, Trudy, 160 p., Gosgeolteckhizdat, Moscow (Geological Survey of Canada Translation Series No. 615).Google Scholar
Copper, P. 1988. Ecological succession in Phanerozoic reef ecosystems: is it real? Palaios, 3:136–151.Google Scholar
Dana, J. M. 1846. Structure and classification of Zoophytes. In U.S. Exploring Expedition during the years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842 under the command of Charles Wilkes, U.S.N. Vol. 7. Lea and Blanchard, Philadelphia, 740 p.Google Scholar
Dixon, O. A. 1979. Late Silurian plasmoporid and stelliporellid corals (Heliolitidae) from the Canadian Arctic. Journal of Paleontology, 53:642–656.Google Scholar
Dixon, O. A., and Parkins, W. G. 1982. Coral distribution in a Silurian marine limestone sequence in the Canadian Arctic. North American Paleontological Convention III, Montreal, August 1982, Abstracts of Papers. Journal of Paleontology, 56, Supplement to No. 2, p. 8.Google Scholar
Dun, W. S. 1927. Descriptions of Heliolitidae from the Upper Silurian of Yass, N.S.W. Australian Museum, Records, 15:255–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dzyubo, P. S., and Mironova, N. V. 1961. Siluriyskaya sistema, Podklass Tabulata, p. 56–74. In Khalfin, L. L. (ed.), Biostratigrafiya Paleozoya Sayano-Altayskoy gornoy oblasti II, Sredniy paleozoy. Sibirskii nauchno-issledovatelskii institut (geologii, geofiziki i mineral'nogo syr'ya), Trudy, 20 [I960].Google Scholar
Flügel, H. 1956. Revision der ostalpinen Heliolitina. Mitteilungen des Museums für Bergbau, Geologie und Technik, am Landesmuseum “Joanneum,” Graz, 17:55–102.Google Scholar
Foster, A. B. 1979. Phenotypic plasticity in the reef corals Montastraea annularis (Ellis & Solander) and Siderastrea siderea (Ellis & Solander). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 39:25–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, A. B. 1983. Evolutionary patterns in a common reef-coral and their relationship to phenotypic plasticity. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 16(6):575.Google Scholar
Foster, A. B. 1985. Variation within coral colonies and its importance for interpreting fossil species. Journal of Paleontology, 59:1359–1381.Google Scholar
Frech, F. 1897. Referat, J. Wentzel: Zur Kenntniss der Zoantharia tabulata. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie, 1897(2):212–214.Google Scholar
Galle, A. 1973. Family Heliolitidae from the Bohemian Paleozoic. Sborník Geologických Věd, Paleontologie, 15:7–48.Google Scholar
Goldfuss, G. A. 1826. Petrefacta Germaniae, Teil 1, p. 1–76. Düsseldorf.Google Scholar
Greiner, H. R. 1963. Vicinity of Beechey Island to Radstock Bay, p. 201–207. In Fortier, Y. O. et al. (ed.), Geology of the north-central part of the Arctic Archipelago, Northwest Territories (Operation Franklin). Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 320.Google Scholar
Hall, J. 1852. Palaeontology of New York, Vol. II, containing descriptions of the organic remains of the lower middle division of the New York System (equivalent in part to the Middle Silurian rocks of Europe). Albany, N.Y., 362 p.Google Scholar
Haughton, S. 1858. Geological notes and illustrations, p. 239–250. In M'Clintock, F. L., Reminiscences of Arctic ice—Travel in search of Sir John Franklin and his companions. Journal of the Royal Society of Dublin, 1 [1856–1857].Google Scholar
Highsmith, R. C. 1982. Reproduction by fragmentation in corals. Marine Ecology Program Series, 7:207–220.Google Scholar
Hill, D. 1981. Supplement 1, Rugosa and Tabulata, 762 p. In Teichert, C. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Pt. F, Coelenterata. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Hill, D., and Stumm, E. C. 1956. Tabulata, p. F444–F477. In Moore, R. C. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Pt. F, Coelenterata. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Chuntai, Jin. 1984. Silurian tabulate coral succession in Huanggexi of Daguan, Yunnan. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, 23:1–19.Google Scholar
Jones, O. A., and Hill, D. 1940. The Heliolitidae of Australia, with a discussion of the morphology and systematic position of the family. Royal Society of Queensland, Proceedings, 51 [1939]:183–215.Google Scholar
Kettnerova, M. 1933. O Heliolitech českého devonu. Státního Geologického Ústavu, Československe Republiky, Věstník, 9:83–91.Google Scholar
Klaamann, N. E. 1984. Geliolitidy v pozdnesiluriyskikh korallovykh soobschch estvakh Pribaltiki. Izvestiia Akademii nauk Estonskoy SSR, Geologiya, 23(2):63–69.Google Scholar
Kovalevsky, O. P. 1975. Tabulyaty, p. 41–50. In Menner, V. V. (ed.), Kharakteristika fauny pogranichnykh sloev Silura i Devona tsentral'nogo Kazakhstana. Materialy po geologii Tsentral'nogo Kazakhstana, 12.Google Scholar
Lang, J. C. 1984. Whatever works: the variable importance of skeletal and of non-skeletal characters in scleractinian taxonomy, p. 18–44. In Coates, A. G. (ed.), Section 1. Taxonomic methods in living corals and their paleontological implications. Fourth International Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria, Paleontologica Americana, 54.Google Scholar
Laub, R. S. 1979. The corals of the Brassfield Formation (mid-Llandovery; Lower Silurian) in the Cincinnati Arch region. Bulletins of American Paleontology, 75(305), 457 p.Google Scholar
Lee, D.-J., and Noble, J. P. A. 1988. Heliolitid corals of the Upper Silurian West Point Formation, Gaspé, Québec. Journal of Paleontology, 62:855–865.Google Scholar
Leleshus, V. L. 1970. Revision of some early Silurian members of the tabulate genus Favosites . Paleontological Journal, 3:318–323.Google Scholar
Leleshus, V. L. 1974. Novye pozdnesiluriiskie geliolitoidei Yuzhnogo Tyan'-Shanya. Akademii Nauk Tadzhikskoi SSR, Izvestiya, Otdelenie Fiziko-Matematicheskikh i Geologo-Khimicheskikh Nauk, 4:94–101.Google Scholar
Lindström, G. 1876. On the affinities of the Anthozoa Tabulata. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Ser. 4, 18:1–17.Google Scholar
Lindström, G. 1899. Remarks on the Heliolitidae. Kungliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar, 32:1–140.Google Scholar
Yaoxi, Li, and Baoyu, Lin. 1982. Phylum Coelenterata, class Anthozoa, subclass Tabulata, p. 50–93. In Atlas of fossils of northwest China, Shaanxi-Gansu-Ninxia Volume, Pt. 1, Precambrian and Early Paleozoic. Geological Publishing House, Peking.Google Scholar
Yaoxi, Li, Lisheng, Song, Zhiqiang, Zhou, Jingyao, Yang, et al. 1975. Stratigraphy and palaeontology of early Palaeozoic from West Daba Mountain. Geological Publishing House, Peking, 372 p.Google Scholar
Baoyu, Lin, and Baoyu, Wang. 1981. Tabulata, p. 39–72. In Atlas of fossils of Northwest China, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Volume, Pt. 1, Upper Proterozoic and Lower Paleozoic. Geological Publishing House, Peking.Google Scholar
Marshall, S. M., and Stephenson, T. A. 1933. The breeding of reef animals. Great Barrier Reef Expedition, 1928–1929, Pt. 1. The Corals. Volume 3(8):219–243.Google Scholar
M'Coy, F. 1851. In A Synopsis of the Classification of the British Palaeozoic Rocks, by the Rev. Adam Sedgwick, with a systematic description of the British Palaeozoic fossils in the Geological Museum of the University of Cambridge by Frederick M'Coy. London and Cambridge, 184 p.Google Scholar
McMillan, N. J. 1963. North coast of Somerset Island, p. 129–135. In Fortier, Y. O. et al. (ed.), Geology of the north-central part of the Arctic Archipelago, Northwest Territories (Operation Franklin). Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 320.Google Scholar
Milne-Edwards, H., and Haime, J. 1851. Monographic des polypiers fossiles des terrains palaeozoiques. Musée national d'histoire naturelle de Paris, Archives, 5, 502 p.Google Scholar
Milne-Edwards, H., 1855. A monograph of the British fossil corals, Pt. V, Corals from the Silurian Formation. Palaeontographical Society (London), Monograph, p. 245–299.Google Scholar
Mironova, N. V. 1961. Tabulyati i geliolitidi tom'-chumishskikh (ostrakodovikh) sloev Salaira. Sibirskii nauchno-issledovatel'skii institut (geologii, geofiziki i mineral'nogo syr'ja), Trudy, 15:148–163.Google Scholar
Narbonne, G. M. 1981. Stratigraphy, reef development and trace fossils of the Upper Silurian Douro Formation in the southeastern Canadian Arctic Islands. Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, 259 p.Google Scholar
Narbonne, G. M., and Dixon, O. A. 1982. Physical correlation and depositional environments of Upper Silurian rubbly limestone facies in the Canadian Arctic Islands, p. 135–146. In Embry, A. F. and Balkwill, H. R. (eds.), Arctic Geology and Geophysics. Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Arctic Geology. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 8.Google Scholar
Narbonne, G. M., 1984. Upper Silurian lithistid sponge reefs on Somerset Island, arctic Canada. Sedimentology, 31:25–50.Google Scholar
Nicholson, H. A., and Etheridge, R. 1879. Descriptions of Paleozoic corals from Northern Queensland. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Ser. 5, 4:216–226.Google Scholar
Noble, J. P. A., and Young, G. A. 1984. The Llandovery-Wenlock heliolitid corals from New Brunswick, Canada. Journal of Paleontology, 58:867–884.Google Scholar
Norris, A. W. 1963. Upper Vendom Fiord, p. 338–354. In Fortier, Y. O. et al. (eds.), Geology of the north-central part of the Arctic Archipelago, Northwest Territories (Operation Franklin). Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 320.Google Scholar
Oliver, W. A. 1968. Some aspects of colony development in corals. Paleontological Society Memoir 2. Journal of Paleontology, 42(5, Supplement):16–34.Google Scholar
Ospanova, N. K. 1978. Novye siluriyskie Geliolitoidei Tadzhikistana. Akademii Nauk Tadzhikskoi SSR, Otdelenie Biologicheskich nauk, Izvestiia, 2(71):49–54.Google Scholar
Penecke, K. A. 1887. Uber die Fauna und das Alter einiger paläozoischer Korallenriffe der Ostalpen. Zeitschrift für deutsche geologische Geselleschafte, 39:267–276.Google Scholar
Philcox, M. E. 1971. Growth forms and role of colonial coelenterates in reefs of the Gower Formation (Silurian), Iowa. Journal of Paleontology, 45:338–346.Google Scholar
Powell, J. 1979. Palaeoecology and taxonomy of some Wenlock tabulate corals and stromatoporoids. Unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, University of Leeds, 219 p.Google Scholar
Scrutton, C. T. 1988. Intraspecific variation in tabulate corals, p. 61. In Jell, J. S., Pickett, J. W., and Webby, B. D. (eds.), Fifth International Symposium on Fossil Cnidaria including Archaeocyatha and Spongiomorphs, Brisbane, July 25–29, 1988, Program and Handbook.Google Scholar
Sokolov, B. S. 1955. Tabulyaty paleozoya Evropeyskoy chasti SSSR. Vvedenie: Obshchie voprosy sistematiki i istorii razvitiya tabulyat. Vsesoyuznyi neftyanoy nauchno-issledovatelskii geologorazvedochniy institut, Trudy, new ser., 85, 527 p.Google Scholar
Sokolov, B. S., and Tesakov, Yu. I. 1963. Tabulyaty paleozoya Sibiri. Tabulyaty ordovika i silura vostochnoi chasti Sibiri. Akademii Nauk SSSR, Sibirskoe otdelenie, Institut Geologii i Geofiziki, Izdatelstvo, 188 p.Google Scholar
Stoddart, J. A. 1983. Asexual reproduction of planulae in the coral Pocillopora damicornis . Marine Biology, 26:279–284.Google Scholar
Stumm, E. C. 1964. Silurian and Devonian corals of the Falls of the Ohio. Geological Society of America Memoir 93, 184 p.Google Scholar
Stumm, E. C. 1968. New names for coral homonyms. Journal of Paleontology, 42:244.Google Scholar
Yongyi, Tchi. 1976. Tabulata, p. 101–129. In Paleontological Atlas of North China, Vol. 1, Paleozoic, Fossils of Inner Mongolia. Geological Publishing House, Peking.Google Scholar
Yongyi, Tchi. 1980. Tabulata, p. 153–188. In Paleontological Atlas of Northeast China, Paleozoic Volume. Geological Publishing House, Peking.Google Scholar
Thorsteinsson, R. 1958. Cornwallis and Little Cornwallis Islands, District of Franklin, Northwest Territories. Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 294, 134 p.Google Scholar
Thorsteinsson, R., and Mayr, U. 1987. The sedimentary rocks of Devon Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 411, 182 p.Google Scholar
Thorsteinsson, R., and Uyeno, T. T. 1981. Biostratigraphy, p. 21–31. In Thorsteinsson, R. (ed.), Stratigraphy and conodonts of Upper Silurian and Lower Devonian rocks in the environs of the Boothia Uplift, Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Pt. 1, Contributions to stratigraphy. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin 292.Google Scholar
Twenhofel, W. H. 1928. Geology of Anticosti Island. Geological Survey of Canada Memoir 154, 481 p.Google Scholar
Vaughan, T. W., and Wells, J. W. 1943. Revision of the suborders families and genera of the Scleractinia. Geological Society of America Special Paper 44, 363 p.Google Scholar
Baoyu, Wang. 1981. Silurian tabulate and heliolithid corals of North Xinjiang and their stratigraphic importance, p. 40–49. In Twelfth Annual Conference, Paleontological Society of China, 1979, Selected Articles. Paleontological Society of China, Beijing.Google Scholar
Weissermel, W. 1939. Neue Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Geologie, Paläontologie und Petrographie der Umgebung von Konstantinopel. 3. Obersilurische und devonische Korallen, Stromatoporiden und Trepostome von der Prinzeninsel Antirovitha und aus Bithynien. Preussische Geologische Landesanstalt, Abhandlungen, 190, 131 p.Google Scholar
Wentzel, J. 1895. Zur Kenntnis der Zoantharia Tabulata. Denckschriften Osterreichische Akademie Wissenschaften (mathematisch-naturwissenschaftliche Klasse), 62:479–516.Google Scholar
Wusman-Best, M. 1974. Habitat-induced modification of reef corals (Faviidae) and its consequences for taxonomy, p. 217–228. In Cameron, A. M. et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Coral Reefs, Volume 2.Google Scholar
Yanet, F. E. 1977. Novye Tabulyaty i geliolitoidei silura vostochnogo sklona urala, p. 20–38. In Sapelnikov, V. P. and Chuvashov, B. I. (eds.), Paleontologia nizhnego paleozoya Urala. Akademii Nauk SSSR, Uralskiy Nauchno-issledovatelskiy Institut Geologii i Geokhimii, Trudy, 129.Google Scholar
Shengwu, Yang, Chuntai, Jin, and Xiyun, Zhou. 1978. Part 1, Cambrian–Devonian Tabulata and Heliolitida, p. 161–252. In Atlas of Paleontology of southwestern China, Guizhou Section. Geological Publishing House, Peking, 776 p. (Geological Survey of Canada Translation Series Number 2446).Google Scholar