Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-sh8wx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-20T16:59:30.879Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Terminal Early Cambrian extinction of the Olenellina: Documentation from the Pioche Formation, Nevada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

A. R. Palmer
A. R. Palmer*
Affiliation:
Institute for Cambrian Studies, 445 N. Cedarbrook Rd., Boulder, Colorado 80304-0417,
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The extinction of the Olenellina on Laurentia can be located within centimeters in the C-shale or uppermost Combined Metals Limestone members of the Pioche Formation in eastern Nevada. Olenellid species diversity beneath the extinction boundary is not diminished. One of the richest Laurentian intervals for articulated olenellids is in the 50 centimeters of shale immediately below the extinction boundary at Ruin Wash. Additional morphological information about some of the species comes from a silicified fauna 1.8 m below the extinction boundary at Hidden Valley. The olenellid fauna from the 2-meter interval below the extinction boundary is described. Questions about current generic and subgeneric relationships are discussed. Among general observations, intraspecific variability unrelated to size or taphonomic effects is minimal for most species; at least two species may have been capable of enrollment; and visual surfaces of one species show no evidence of facets. New species include: Olenellus (Olenellus?) fowleri, Olenellus (Paedeumias) chiefensis, Olenellus (Paedeumias) terminatus, Bolbolenellus brevispinus, and Nephrolenellus geniculatus. Olenellus (Olenellus) gilberti Meek and Olenellus (Olenellus) howelli Meek are revised.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 72 , Issue 4 , July 1998 , pp. 650 - 672
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

Bergström, J. 1973. Organization, life, and systematics of trilobites. Fossils and Strata, 2:1–69.Google Scholar
Best, R. V. 1952. Two new species of Olenellus from British Columbia. Royal Society of Canada Transactions 46(3):13–21.Google Scholar
Blaker, M. R. and Peel, J. S. 1997. Lower Cambrian trilobites from North Greenland. Meddelelser om Grønland, Geoscience 35:1–145.Google Scholar
Burling, L. D. 1916. Paedeumias and the Mesonacidae, with descriptions of a new species having at least 44 segments from the Lower Cambrian of British Columbia. Ottawa Naturalist, 30:53–58.Google Scholar
Clarkson, E. N. K. 1973. The eyes of Asaphus raniceps Dalman (Trilobita). Palaeontology, 16:425–444.Google Scholar
Cowie, J. 1968. Lower Cambrian faunas from Ellesmere Island, District of Franklin. Canada Geological Survey Bulletin 163:1–27.Google Scholar
Dunbar, C. O. 1925. Antennae in Olenellus getzi n. sp. American Journal of Science, 5th series, 9:303–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fritz, W. H. 1972. Lower Cambrian trilobites from the Sekwi Formation type section, Mackenzie Mountains, northwestern Canada. Canadian Geological Survey Bulletin 212:1–90.Google Scholar
Fritz, W. H. 1991. Lower Cambrian trilobites from the Illtyd Formation, Wernecke Mountains, Yukon Territory. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin 409:1–77.Google Scholar
Hall, J. 1859. Trilobites of the shales of the Hudson River Group, p. 59–62 In 12th Annual Report of the New York State Cabinet for Natural History. Albany, New York.Google Scholar
Hall, J. 1862. Supplementary note to the thirteenth report of the Regents of the State Cabinet, p. 113–119. In 15th Annual Report of the New York State Cabinet for Natural History. Albany, New York.Google Scholar
Hu, C. H. 1985. Ontogenetic development of Cambrian trilobites from British Columbia and Alberta, Canada (Pt. 1). Taiwan Museum Journal, 38(2):121–158.Google Scholar
Kindle, C. H. and Tasch, P. 1948. Lower Cambrian fauna of the Monkton Formation of Vermont. Canadian Field-Naturalist, 62(5):133–139.Google Scholar
Levi-Setti, R. 1993. Trilobites. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 342 p.Google Scholar
Merriam, C. W. 1964. Cambrian rocks of the Pioche Mining District, Nevada. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper, 469:1–59.Google Scholar
Norford, B. S. 1962. Illustrations of Canadian fossils—Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian of the western Cordillera. Geological Survey of Canada Paper, 62-14:1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, A. R. 1957. Ontogenetic development of two olenellid trilobites. Journal of Paleontology, 31:105–128.Google Scholar
Palmer, A. R. 1984. The biomere problem: evolution of an idea. Journal of Paleontology, 58:599–611.Google Scholar
Palmer, A. R. 1998. A proposed nomenclature for stages and series for the Cambrian of Laurentia. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 34:323–328.Google Scholar
Palmer, A. R. and Halley, R. B. 1979. Physical stratigraphy and trilobite biostratigraphy of the Carrara Formation (Lower and Middle Cambrian) in the southern Great Basin. U. S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1047:1–131.Google Scholar
Palmer, A. R. and Repina, L. N. 1993. Through a glass darkly; taxonomy, phylogeny, and biostratigraphy of the Olenellina. University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, New Series, Number 3, 35 p.Google Scholar
Resser, C. E. 1928. Cambrian fossils from the Mohave Desert. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 81(3):1–14.Google Scholar
Resser, C. E. and Howell, B. F. 1938. Lower Cambrian Olenellus Zone of the Appalachians. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 49:195–248.Google Scholar
Robison, R. A. and Hintze, L. F. 1972. An Early Cambrian trilobite faunule from Utah. Brigham Young University Geological Studies, 19:3–13.Google Scholar
Rowell, A. J. 1980. Inarticulate brachiopods of the Lower and Middle Cambrian Pioche Shale of the Pioche District, Nevada. University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions, 98:1–26.Google Scholar
Shimer, H. W. and Shrock, R. R. 1944. Index Fossils of North America. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Technology press, 837 p.Google Scholar
Velechovsky, M. 1985. Depositional environments and paleontology of the Lower Cambrian Combined Metals and parts of the C-shale members of the Pioche Shale from Delamar Mountains and Highland Range, Nevada. Unpublished , University of Kansas, Lawrence, 138 p.Google Scholar
Walcott, C. D. 1886. Second contribution to the studies on Cambrian faunas of North America. U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin, 30:1–369.Google Scholar
Walcott, C. D. 1910. Olenellus and other genera of the Mesonacidae. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 53(2):13–52.Google Scholar
Webster, M. and Hughes, N. C. 1997. Quantitative assessment of the effects of compaction on morphological variability in two trilobite species from the Lower Cambrian Pioche Shale, Nevada. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 29(6):1–265.Google Scholar
White, C. A. 1874. Preliminary report upon invertebrate fossils. U. S. Geographic and Geologic Surveys West of the 100th Meridian Report, p. 5–27.Google Scholar
White, C. A. 1877. Report upon the invertebrate fossils collected in portions of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. U. S. Geographic and Geologic Surveys West of the 100th Meridian Report, 4(1):3–219.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. 1988. Hypostomes and ventral cephalic sutures in Cambrian trilobites. Palaeontology, 31:577–609.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B. 1989. Olenelloid trilobites: type species, functional morphology and higher classification. Royal Society of London Philosophical Transactions, Ser. B., 324:111–147.Google Scholar
Whittington, H. B., and Kelly, S. R. A. 1997. Morphological terms applied to Trilobita, p. 313–330. In Kaesler, R. L. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Pt. O (Revised), Trilobita. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas. Boulder and Lawrence.Google Scholar