Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-g5fl4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-26T21:28:26.173Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Modes of evolution and their chronostratigraphic significance: evidence from Devonian invertebrates in the Michigan Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

J. A. Fagerstrom
J. A. Fagerstrom*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The origin and evolutionary histories of the two most abundant and diverse genera of invertebrates (Prosserella: Brachiopoda and Syringostroma: Stromatoporoidea) in the Detroit River Group and associated rocks in the vicinity of the Michigan Basin appear to support the models of either allopatric speciation and punctuated equilibria (Eldredge and Gould, 1972) or quantum evolution (Simpson, 1944; 1953). Four morphotypes of Prosserella arose almost simultaneously (a “burst”) just below the base of the Detroit River in sandstone deposited near the axis of the Findlay Arch and persisted without evidence of significant progressive evolutionary change (a “trend”) until their almost simultaneous extinction by lineage termination near the top of the Detroit River. Neither ancestors nor descendants of Prosserella have been recognized and even the familial placement of the genus is uncertain. The genus, its species and morphotypes probably arose by means of very profound genetic or chromosomal “revolutions” that probably took place in small allopatric populations; each population quickly increased in abundance and geographic range and persisted without further significant morphologic modification until its extinction.

S. ristigouchense from the Lower Devonian of New Brunswick is the probable ancestor to six (or seven) species of Syringostroma that appear almost simultaneously (another “burst”) in lower Detroit River carbonate rocks deposited near the eastern margin of the Michigan Basin. Two of these new species are known only from reefs of early Detroit River age (a “crash”), four species persist without significant morphological change to at least the end of Detroit River deposition, and one of these was the probable ancestor to yet another newly evolved species that is abundantly represented in the conformably overlying Columbus Limestone.

The “founding fathers” of chronostratigraphy were pre-Darwinian and based their concepts and methods on assemblages of co-occurring taxa of unknown phylogenetic relations (assemblage-zones, concurrent range-zones and Oppel-zones) rather than on the range-zones of successional species in the same phylogenetic lineage (lineage-zones). Assumptions of these early biostratigraphers concerning the temporal relations of taxa are in close accord with the premises of punctuated equilibria and quantum evolution. The development of the chronostratigraphic system during the 19th century attests to the success of these early methods which depend for their precision on the number of taxa used and determination of the significance of morphologic differences among these taxa and their geographic and stratigraphic distributions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 4 , Issue 4 , Fall 1978 , pp. 381 - 393
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

Literature Cited

Arkell, W. J. 1933. The Jurassic System in Great Britain. 681 pp. Clarendon Press; Oxford.Google Scholar
Berry, W. B. N. 1966. Zones and zones—with exemplification from the Ordovician. Bull. Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geol. 50:1487–1500.Google Scholar
Birkhead, P. K. and Fraunfelter, G. H. 1973. Some Middle Devonian stromatoporoids from southern Illinois and southeastern Missouri. J. Paleontol. 47:1069–1076.Google Scholar
Boucot, A. J. 1975. Evolution and Extinction Rate Controls. Developments in Paleontology and Stratigraphy 1. 427 pp. Elsevier Sci. Publ. Co., Amsterdam, Oxford, New York.Google Scholar
Bush, G. L. 1975. Modes of animal speciation. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Systematics. 8:339–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carman, J. F. 1936. Sylvania Sandstone of northwestern Ohio. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 47:253–266.Google Scholar
Carson, H. L. 1968. The population flush and its genetic consequences. pp. 123–137. In: Lewontin, R. C., ed. Population Biology and Evolution. Syracuse Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Dobzhansky, T. 1951. Genetics and the Origin of Species. 3rd ed.364 pp. Columbia Univ. Press.Google Scholar
Ehlers, G. M., Stumm, E. C. and Kesling, R. V. 1951. Devonian Rocks of Southeastern Michigan and Northwestern Ohio. Geol. Soc. Am., Field Trip Guidebook (Detroit). 40 pp.Google Scholar
Eldredge, Niles. 1971. The allopatric model and phylogeny in Paleozoic invertebrates. Evolution. 25:156–167.Google Scholar
Eldredge, Niles. 1972. Systematics and evolution of Phacops rana (Green, 1832) and Phacops iowensis Delo, 1935 (Trilobita) from the Middle Devonian of North America. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 147:45–114.Google Scholar
Eldredge, Niles. 1974. Testing evolutionary hypotheses in paleontology: a comment on Makurath and Anderson (1973). Evolution. 28:479–481.Google Scholar
Eldredge, N. and Gould, S. J. 1972. Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism. Pp. 82–115. In: Schopf, T. J. M., ed. Models in Paleobiology. Freeman, Cooper, and Co., San Francisco, Calif.Google Scholar
Eldredge, N. and Gould, S. J. 1977. Evolutionary models and biostratigraphic strategies. Pp. 25–40. In: Kauffman, E. G. and Hazel, J. E., eds. Concepts and Methods of Biostratigraphy. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross; Stroudsburg, Pa.Google Scholar
Fagerstrom, J. A. 1961. The fauna of the Middle Devonian Formosa Reef Limestone of southwestern Ontario. J. Paleontol. 35:1–48.Google Scholar
Fagerstrom, J. A. 1966. Occurrence of Prosserella sp. (Brachiopoda) in the Formosa Reef Limestone of southwestern Ontario, Canada. Proc. Annu. Meeting, Neb. Acad. Sci. 76:14.Google Scholar
Fagerstrom, J. A. 1967. Stratigraphic and paleogeographic significance of the Holland Quarry Shale (Lower Devonian), northwestern Ohio. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 78:1185–1190.Google Scholar
Fagerstrom, J. A. 1971. Brachiopods of the Detroit River Group (Devonian) from southwestern Ontario and adjacent areas of Michigan and Ohio. Bull. Geol. Surv. Canada 204.Google Scholar
Fagerstrom, J. A. 1977. Character displacement among sympatric species of Syringostroma (Stromatoporidea) from the Devonian of southwestern Ontario. Geol. Soc. Am., Abstracts with Programs. 9:593–594.Google Scholar
Fagerstrom, J. A. and Saxena, K. M. L. 1973. Intracoenosteal variation in a Devonian stromatoporoid. Lethaia. 6:155–162.Google Scholar
Fiege, Kurt. 1951. The zone, base of stratigraphy. Bull. Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geol. 35:2582–2596.Google Scholar
Fritz, M. A. and Waines, R. H. 1956. Stromatoporoids from the upper Abitibi River Limestone. Proc. Geol. Assoc. Canada. 8:87–126.Google Scholar
Galloway, J. J. and Ehlers, G. M. 1960. Some Middle Devonian stromatoporoids from Michigan and southwestern Ontario. Contrib. Univ. Mich. Mus. Paleontol. 15:39–120.Google Scholar
Gardner, W. C. 1974. Middle Devonian stratigraphy and depositional environments in the Michigan Basin. Spec. Papers Mich. Basin Geol. Soc. 1.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D. 1974. Paleontology and phylogeny: patterns of evolution at the species level in early Tertiary mammals. Am. J. Sci. 276:1–28.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D. 1976. Cranial anatomy and evolution of early Tertiary Plesiadapidae (Mammalia: Primates). Univ. Mich. Papers in Paleontol. 15.Google Scholar
Girty, G. H. 1897. A revision of the sponges and coelenterates of the Lower Helderberg Group of New York: Annu. Rept. N.Y. State Geol. 14:259–322.Google Scholar
Gould, S. J. and Eldredge, N. 1977. Punctuated equilibria: the tempo and mode of evolution reconsidered. Paleobiology. 3:115–151.Google Scholar
Hallam, A. and Gould, S. J. 1975. The evolution of British and American Middle and Upper Jurassic Gryphaea: a biometric study. Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B. 189:511–542.Google Scholar
Harland, W. B. et al. 1964. The Phanerozoic time-scale. Q. J. Geol. Soc. London. 120S.Google Scholar
Hayami, I. and Ozawa, T. 1975. Evolutionary models of lineage-zones. Lethaia. 8:1–14.Google Scholar
Hedberg, H. D. ed. 1976. International Stratigraphic Guide. 200 pp. John Wiley and Sons, New York, London, Sydney, Toronto.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. G. 1975. Allopatric speciation in fossil brachipods. J. Paleontol. 49:646–661.Google Scholar
Kauffman, E. G. 1970. Population systematics, radiometrics and zonation—a new biostratigraphy. Proc. North Am. Paleontol. Conv. Pp. 612–666.Google Scholar
Kauffman, E. G. 1977. Evolutionary rates and biostratigraphy. Pp. 109–141. In: Kauffman, E. G. and Hazel, J. E., eds. Concepts and Methods of Biostratigraphy. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross; Stroudsburg, Pa.Google Scholar
Landes, K. K. 1951. Detroit River Group in the Michigan Basin. U.S. Geol. Surv. Circ. 133.Google Scholar
Lane, A. C., Prosser, C. R., Sherzer, W. H. and Grabau, A. W. 1909. Nomenclature and subdivision of the Upper Siluric strata of Michigan, Ohio, and western New York. Bull. Geol. Soc. Am. 19:553–556.Google Scholar
Mayr, E. 1970. Populations, Species, and Evolution. 453 pp. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Oppel, A. 1856–1858. Die Juraformation Englands, Frankreichs und des südwestlichen Deutschlands.. Jahreshefte Vereins für vaterlandische Naturkunde in Württemberg. 12:1–556, 13:141–396; 14:129–291.Google Scholar
Palmer, A. R. 1965. Trilobites of the Late Cambrian Pterocephaliid Biomere in the Great Basin, United States. U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Paper. 493:1–105.Google Scholar
Parks, W. A. 1909. Silurian stromatoporoids of America. Univ. Toronto Studies, Geol. Ser. 6:1–52.Google Scholar
Pitrat, C. W. 1965. Spiriferidina. In: Moore, R. C., ed. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Brachiopoda H:667–728, Geol. Soc. Am.Google Scholar
Rickard, L. V. 1962. Late Cayugan (Upper Silurian) and Heldebergian (Lower Devonian) stratigraphy in New York. Bull. N.Y. State Mus. and Sci. Serv. 368.Google Scholar
Sanford, B. V. 1967. Devonian of Ontario and Michigan. Intern. Symp. Devonian System, Alberta Geol. Soc. Calgary. 1:973–999.Google Scholar
Shaw, A. B. 1971. The butterfingered handmaiden. J. Paleontol. 45:1–5.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. G. 1944. Tempo and Mode in Evolution. 237 pp. Columbia Univ. Press; New York.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. G. 1953. The Major Features of Evolution. 434 pp. Columbia Univ Press.Google Scholar
Simpson, G. G. 1976. The compleat paleontologist? Annu. Rev. Earth Plan. Sci. 4:1–13.Google Scholar
Stanley, S. M. 1975. A theory of evolution above the species level. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA. 72:646–650.Google Scholar
Stearn, C. W. 1966. The microstructure of stromatoporoids. Palaeontology. 9:74–124.Google Scholar