Early Cambrian Brachiopods and Other Shelly Fossils from the Basal Kinzers Formation of Pennsylvania
Transcript of Early Cambrian Brachiopods and Other Shelly Fossils from the Basal Kinzers Formation of Pennsylvania
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BRACHIOPODS AND SMALL SHELLY FOSSILS FROM THE BASAL
KINZERS FORMATION (CAMBRIAN SERIES 2, STAGE 4) OF
PENNSYLVANIA
CHRISTIAN B. SKOVSTED AND JOHN S. PEEL
Department of Earth Sciences (Palaeobiology), Uppsala University,
Villavägen 16, SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden <[email protected]>
INTRODUCTION
The first American specimens of Yochelcionella, a problematic Cambrian
mollusk genus characterized by a prominent snorkel, were described from
Thomasville, Pennsylvania by Runnegar and Pojeta (1980). Later
investigations of lower Cambrian faunas from other areas of North America
(Peel 1987; Landing and Bartowski 1996; Landing et al 2002; Skovsted 2004,
2006a; Atkins and Peel 2004, 2008) have since shown that Yochelcionella is
a member of a diverse and widespread fauna of Small Shelly Fossils
occurring along the eastern margin of Laurentia in the later part of the lower
Cambrian (Cambrian Series 2, stage 4 in the proposed subdivision of the
Cambrian, see Babcock et al. 2005). In this report we extend the distribution
of this fauna southwards along the Appalachians to Pennsylvania (Fig. 1), in
reporting an assemblage of 17 taxa of Small Shelly Fossils from Thomasville.
Most components of this assemblage have a considerable geographic range,
suggesting the presence of a continuous shelf community with few barriers to
the dispersal of animals along the eastern and northern margins of Laurentia
in the early Cambrian.
Cambrian strata of Laurentian aspect in eastern North America outcrop
in a more than 2000 km long belt from Alabama in the south through the
Appalachians to Quebec in the north (Palmer 1971). Small outcrops occur in
western Newfoundland and adjacent Labrador (Schuchert & Dunbar 1934;
Knight 1991), and in North-East Greenland (Skovsted 2006a), before
essentially continuous outcrop returns in the Franklinian Basin succession
that extends east-west across North Greenland and into the Canadian Arctic
Islands (Peel and Sønderholm 1991). Lower Cambrian faunas have been
recorded from these successions for about 150 years. Monographs by
Walcott (1886), Poulsen (1932), Resser and Howell (1938) and Lochman
(1956) are dominated by macrofossils, overwhelmingly trilobites, but in recent
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years paleontological enquiry has been directed towards Small Shelly Fossils
recovered by the digestion of carbonates in weak acids. The technique has
been widely employed by Russian palaeontologists (e.g. Rozanov et al. 1969)
and is now a standard approach to investigating the biostratigraphy of
Cambrian carbonate successions (e.g. Kerber 1986; Qian & Bengtson 1989;
Bengtson et al. 1990; Esakova & Zhegallo 1996; Gubanov et al. 2004).
The name Small Shelly Fossils is an embracive term that covers a
broad array of Cambrian fossils united by their small size (generally 1-2 mm
or less) and the method of extraction. The term encompasses the remains of
such diverse groups as mollusks, brachiopods and sponges in addition to a
host of more problematic fossils. In the Cambrian of eastern North America
description of Small Shelly Fossils was pioneered by Ed Landing (Albany) and
others working in Laurentian and Avalonian terranes (for references see
Landing and Bartowski 1996; Landing et al. 2002, 2008), but faunas have also
been described from the Laurentian successions in the Forteau Formation of
western Newfoundland (Peel 1987; Skovsted 2003a; Skovsted and Peel,
2007), the Bastion and Ella Island formations of North-East Greenland
(Skovsted 2003b, 2004, 2005, 2006a; Skovsted and Holmer 2003, 2005;
Skovsted and Peel 2001; Skovsted et al. 2004; Malinky and Skovsted 2004;
Peel and Skovsted 2005) as well as the Aftenstjernesø Formation of North
Greenland (Atkins and Peel 2004, 2008; Peel and Larsen 1984).
GEOLOGICAL SETTING
In eastern Pennsylvania Cambrian carbonates of the Vintage, Kinzers
and Ledger formations, overlying siliclastic sediments of the Antietam
Formation, record a basin to shelf sequence (Cambrian Series 2 and 3)
suggesting growth and west to east progradation of a carbonate shelf margin
(Reinhardt 1977; Skinner 2005; Fig. 1). The Vintage Formation (150-245 m
thick) consists of mottled or banded limestones and dolomites of basinal
aspect. The overlying Kinzers Formation (45-155 m) includes a lower pelitic
member (Emigsville Member), an overlying York Member of shelf edge
carbonates and massive breccias, followed by argillaceous to sandy
carbonates of the Longs Park and Greenmount members.
Samples described during this study were collected from the quarry at
the junction of Lincoln Highway (U.S Route 30) and Biesecker Road (39
55.3 N, 76 51.2 W) in Thomasville, York County, Pennsylvania (Fig. 1).
Long operated by Thomasville Stone and Lime Company, it is now owned by
Oldcastle Industrial Minerals. The main quarry complex is located in massive
limestones, mainly debris flows, of the Kinzers Formation but the crushed
stone quarry, to the south-west, lies within the underlying Vintage Formation
(Cloos 1968). Fossils were collected by J.S. Peel from the so-called water
pipe section, exposed in the west wall of the roadway between the two
quarries, about 50 m south of the down faulted phyllite of the Emigsville
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Member of the Kinzers Formation (Gohn 1976). About 10 m of fossiliferous,
dark, thin bedded, argillaceous limestone overlie a bed of white limestone
breccia described by Gohn (1976) as the uppermost unit of the Vintage
Formation. Yochelson (1970) referred the beds below the fossiliferous strata
to the “Thomasville” limestone. This informal unit, also used by Reinhardt
(1977), is an atypical development of the York Member of the Kinzers
Formation, characterized by 2 megabreccia units (Ganis & Hopkins 1990) and
is not part of the Vintage Formation, as Gohn (1976) had suggested.
Gohn (1976) referred the fossiliferous limestones to the Emigsville
Member, although Yochelson (1970, p. B7) followed Cloos (1968) and
referred this “atypical dark-gray limestone unit” to the Vintage Dolomite. Atkins
and Peel (2008), in describing Yochelcionella, referred to the unit as the
lowest Kinzers Formation; Skinner (2005) did not include the locality in his
description of the Emigsville Member lagerstätte.
FAUNAL COMPOSITION
The Small Shelly Fossil assemblage from Thomasville is moderately
diverse, with a total of 17 taxa (Table 1). It is dominated numerically and
taxonomically by organophosphatic brachiopod shells and internal molds of
mollusks, but hyoliths, tubular problematica, sponge spicules and echinoderm
ossicles are also present.
Most of the recovered fossils are either phosphatic by original
composition (brachiopods and Hyolithellus) or represented by phosphatic
internal molds (mollusks, Salterella). However, some hyoliths, chancelloriid
sclerites and some sponge spicules appear to have been secondarily
replaced, at least partly, by phosphate or silica, and echinoderms and
Dodecaactinella spicules are also represented by partly etched
monocrystaline calcitic plates.
Skinner (2005) described a number of Small Shelly Fossil taxa from the
shales of the Emigsville Member of the Kinzers Formation (e.g. Pelagiella,
Chancelloria, Alonnia, Tubulella, Salterella etc.) but their preservation is too
poor to allow meaningful comparison with the fauna from acid residues
described herein.
Mollusks.─ Mollusks are represented by internal molds of five species,
including Yochelcionella (three species described by Atkins and Peel 2008),
Planutenia flectata and Pelagiella sp. In addition to the previously known,
strongly coiled and laterally compressed Y. americana (Fig. 2.3-2.5),
Yochelcionella is represented by the relatively wide and upright forms Y.
chinensis (Fig. 2.1, 2.2) and Y. greenlandica (Fig. 2.6). These are also
present in the Aftenstjernesø Formation of North Greenland (Atkins & Peel
2008) and, with the exception of Y. greenlandica, in the Forteau Formation of
western Newfoundland (Skovsted and Peel 2007). Yochelcionella chinensis is
probably also present in North-East Greenland (Yochelcionella sp.; Skovsted
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2004) and the Taconic Allochthon of New York State (Yochelcionella sp.;
Landing and Bartowski 1996).
A single, partly broken internal mold showing strong lateral compression
(Fig. 2.7) resembles Planutenia flectata from the Lower Cambrian of eastern
Germany (Elicki 1994) and western Newfoundland (Skovsted and Peel 2007).
In lateral view P. flectata is similar to Yochelcionella americana, but is more
strongly compressed and is further distinguished by the absence of co-
marginal ribs and snorkel.
Internal molds of asymmetrically coiled molluscs are similar to Pelagiella
primaeva, otherwise known from the Taconic Allochthons of New York State
and Quebec and from North Greenland (Fig. 2.8-2.11). The apices of the
molds are depressed below the margin of the aperture (in apertural view), and
differ in this respect from specimens referred to P. subangulata from Australia
and North-East Greenland (Parkhaev in Gravestock et al. 2001; Skovsted
2004) and Pelagiella sp. from western Newfoundland (Skovsted and Peel
2007). However, identification of internal molds of Pelagiella is problematic
(Parkhaev in Gravestock et al. 2001; Skovsted and Peel 2007), and these
specimens are left in open nomenclature.
Hyoliths.─ Hyoliths are represented by conchs of both orthothecids and
hyolithids. The orthothecid conchs are slowly expanding, gently curved and
exhibits a circular cross-section (Fig. 2.12-2.14) comparable with Conotheca
australiensis which is common in the Bastion Formation of North-East
Greenland (Malinky and Skovsted 2004). Hyolithid conchs with a triangular
cross section are generally less well preserved and are left in open
nomenclature (Fig. 2.15, 2.16).
Brachiopods.─ Organophosphatic brachiopods are represented by four
species, including Eothele tubulus, Eoobolus priscus, Hadrotreta sp. and
Micromitra sp.
The most common brachiopod shells in the assemblage are conical
ventral valves of Eothele tubulus with a relatively coarse ornament of pustules
and an oval pedicle foramen (Fig. 4). Eothele tubulus was originally described
from the Mackenzie Mountains of Canada (Voronova et al. 1987) but also
occurs in western Newfoundland (Skovsted and Peel 2007). Since the
species is poorly known, it is described in detail on the basis of the
Thomasville material to record important new information concerning shell
structure.
The second most common brachiopod in the Thomasville fauna is the
acrotretid Hadrotreta sp. (Fig. 2.18-2.21). All specimens are fragmentary and
most are partially exfoliated, precluding a definite specific identification. The
strongly developed apical process on the ventral valve interior suggests
affinity with H. primaeva from the Great Basin (Walcott 1902; M. Streng pers.
comm. 2009).
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Thomasville specimens of Eoobolus priscus are fragmentary (Fig. 2.22)
but appear to be identical to better preserved material described from North-
East Greenland (Poulsen 1932; Skovsted and Holmer 2005). This species is
widespread along the east Laurentian margin (North-East Greenland, western
Newfoundland, New York State) but is also found in Antarctica and South
Australia (Skovsted and Holmer 2005; Skovsted and Peel 2007). A few poorly
preserved but highly convex brachiopod specimens with a low median ridge
and a concave delthyrium with probable delthyrial ridges on the internal
surface are suggestive of the genus Micromitra (Fig. 2.17). This genus is
known from most Lower Cambrian areas in Laurentia but the poor
preservation of the specimens from Pennsylvania precludes any specific
assignment.
Other fossils.─ Other taxa are relatively rare in the Thomasville samples.
Cone-shaped internal molds and silicified conchs of Salterella mccullochi (Fig.
3.1-3-3) may also be common on outcrop. The conchs are simple, poorly
preserved cones but internal molds combine a regular cone with a tubular
extension at the apex witch represents the mould of the central canal. Similar
material is common in fossil assemblages from western Newfoundland (Peel
and Berg-Madsen 1988; Skovsted 2003; Skovsted and Peel 2007) and North-
East Greenland (Skovsted 2006a). Salterella mccullochi is a well known
macrofossil from most Lower Cambrian regions of Laurentia ( Fritz and
Yochelson 1988). A second species, S. conulata, has been reported from the
Thomasville area (Yochelson 1970), but the present acid isolated specimens
differ from S. conulata by the relatively low rate of expansion of the conch.
Salterella ascervulosa described by Resser and Howell (1938) and Skinner
(2005) from the Emigsville lagerstätte probably represents poorly preserved
specimens of S. mccullochi.
Chancelloriid sclerites are scarce and their generalised morphology
precludes meaningful taxonomic determination (Fig. 3.4-3.6). Sponges are
represented by fragmentary spicules of Dodecaactinella (Fig. 3.7, 3.8) and
unidentified hexactinellids (Fig. 3.9). In addition, the fauna includes short
sections of organophosphatic tubes attributable to Hyolithellus micans (Fig.
3.10, 3.11). At least some of the similar fossils reported as Selkirkia by Resser
and Howell (1938; see also Conway Morris 1977)) and Tubulella by Skinner
(2005) from the Emigsville Member may also represent Hyolithellus. Star-
shaped echinoderm ossicles are also preserved, both as phosphatic replicas
and as partly etched calcitic plates (Fig. 3.12-3.15).
THE LOWER CAMBRIAN FAUNA OF EAST LAURENTIA
The currently documented fauna from the basal Kinzers Formation of
Thomasville is very similar to faunas from other regions within eastern
Laurentia (Table 1), confirming the pattern of wide geographical distribution of
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many Small Shelly Fossils (Skovsted 2004, 2006a; Malinky and Skovsted
2004; Skovsted and Peel 2007). The extensive similarities of faunas from
North Greenland to Pennsylvania suggest that a more or less continuous shelf
existed in eastern Laurentia during the early Cambian and that no substantial
barriers obstructed the migration of the fauna along the shelf.
The Thomasville fauna occurs in storm beds in the basal Kinzers
Formation which were deposited in a distal shelf setting. Assemblages from
western Newfoundland (Skovsted and Peel 2007), from the Bastion Formation
of North-East Greenland (Skovsted 2006a) and the Aftenstjernesø Formation
of North Greenland (Atkins and Peel 2004, 2008) are found in closely
comparable settings, while faunas from New York State (Landing and
Bartowski 1996) and Quebec (Landing et al. 2002) are derived from proximal
turbidites in a continental slope setting. Thus, all known shelly fossils from the
Lower Cambrian of eastern Laurentia are allochthonous and were potentially
transported for considerable distances prior to deposition. The majority of the
material was probably derived from proximal, and presumably more shallow
water environments on the Cambrian shelf along the eastern coast of
Laurentia.
With the exception of brachiopods (Rowell 1977, 1980) comparable
Small Shelly Faunas from western Laurentia are very poorly known. Salterella
is widely distributed in western Laurentia (Fritz and Yochelson 1988), but
other non-trilobite components of the fauna have been documented only in a
few publications describing material from the northern Rocky Mountains in
Yukon and Canada (Voronova et al. 1987) and the southern Great Basin
(Skovsted 2006b; Skovsted and Holmer 2006). Although the brachiopods of
the Kinzers Formation show some affinity with faunas from western Laurentia
(e.g. Eothele tubulus and Hadrotreta sp.), no other components are known
from both regions.
SYSTEMATIC PALEONTOLOGY
Repository.─ All figured specimens are deposited in the paleontological
type collection of the Museum of Evolution, Uppsala University, Sweden
(acronym PMU). The acronym GSC stands for Geological Survey of Canada,
Ottawa.
Family Acrothelidae Schuchert, 1893
Genus Eothele Rowell, 1980
Eothele tubulus Ushatinskaya in Voronova et al. 1987
Figure 4.1-4.19
Eothele tubulus Ushatinskaya in Voronova et al. 1987, p.50, pl. 22, figs 1-6,
pl. 23, fig.3.
Eothele sp. Skovsted and Peel 2007, fig. 2C.
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Holotype. ─ GSC N 90245 (Voronova et al. 1987, pl. 22, fig. 1), from
sample N42, collected 10 m. below locality GSC 95527, Mackenzie
Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada. The authors do not state from
which rock unit sample N42 was collected, but based on their stratigraphic
diagram it was derived from an unidentified unit above the upper boundary of
the Sekwi Formation, just below the upper boundary of the Bonnia-Olenellus
Zone.
Diagnosis. ─ Species of Eothele with elongate lenticular pedicle
foramen and reduced internal pedicle tube. It differs from E. spurri and E.
granulata by the smaller pedicle opening, its lenticular shape, the short
pedicle tube and the less pronounced anterior flexing of the ventral valve.
Material. ─Six figured (PMU x1-x6) and 24 additional ventral valves
from acid-resistant residues of limestone samples from the basal Kinzers
Formation, Thomasville, Pennsylvania, USA.
Description. ─: The ventral shell is strongly procline with a pointed
apex (Fig. 4). In lateral profile the anterior is concave and the posterior slightly
convex (Fig. 4.8). Although all available specimens are incomplete, the
posterior margin appear to be gently curved and the shell was probably
semicircular in outline (Fig. 4.1, 4.7, 4.9). The pedicle foramen is lenticular,
with the posterior end slightly more rounded than the apical termination (Fig.
4.2, 4.7, 4.11). The foramen is 250 to 300 µm long and is completely closed
posteriorly by a flat triangular plate (Fig. 4.10). The well preserved ventral
larval shell is transversely oval to almost circular in outline (Fig. 4.3). A high,
rounded, central tubercle is present above the deep, V-shaped pedicle notch
and two low tubercles are present anteriorly (Fig. 4.4). The larval shell has a
distinct pitted micro-ornament with the diameter of pits varying from 2 to 6 µm
(Fig. 4.5). The post larval shell is ornamented by distinct, rounded pustules,
sometimes arranged in uneven, roughly co-marginal bands (Fig. 4.6). The
diameter of pustules is 8 to 15 µm and generally increases anteriorly.
Concentric ornament is more clearly defined on the posterolateral shoulders
and pseudointerarea but the pustules are less well developed here (Fig. 4.2,
4.7, 4.9). The posteromedian triangular plate exhibits slightly uneven
concentric growth lines without pustules (Fig. 4.2, 4.10). The ventral interior is
not well preserved but the pedicle foramen has a narrow rim, slightly elevated
above the valve floor anteriorly (Fig. 4.12, 4.17). A V-shaped muscle field is
present anterior to the pedicle foramen (Fig. 4.12, 4.17) and a pair of possible
umbonal or transmedian muscle scars are present slightly lateral and
posterior to the pedicle foramen (Fig. 4.12).
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Shell structure. ─ The microstructure of the shells was observed on
broken shell edges. The shell is clearly stratified with distinct sets of columnar
laminae (Fig. 4.18). The laminae are typically 5 to 8 µm thick and are
separated by narrow slits (less than 1 µm wide; Fig. 4.16, 4.18). Two types of
columnar structures are present, with columnar elements being either
perpendicular to the lamniae or inclined by approximately 30 degrees. Some
laminae are dominated by vertical columns (Fig. 4.16, 4.18) and others by
inclined columns (Fig. 4.15, 4.17), while some layers exhibit both vertical and
inclined columns (Fig. 4.19). The columnar elements are composed of
massive microgranular phosphate and are typically 1 to 2 µm thick. No central
canals were observed in the columnar elements (Fig. 4.16) and interlaminar
surfaces exhibit no perforations (Fig. 4.19).
Discussion. ─ The collection of Eothele tubulus from the Kinzers
Formation is exclusively composed of ventral valves, presumably an effect of
sorting during transport prior to deposition. Pre-burial transport and abrasion
is also indicated by the incompleteness of the shells which always lack the
anterior margin, although the posterior margin may sometimes be preserved.
Eothele differ from Botsfordia and Karathele by the presence of a pedicle
foramen completely enclosed by the posterior valve margin and from
Acrothele and Orbithele by the high, conical profile of the ventral valve.
Eothele tubulus was originally described from upper lower Cambrian (as
conventionally defined in Laurentia by the presence of Olenellus) of the
Mackenzie Mountains in Northwest Territories, Canada by Voronova et al.
(1987). The holotype (Voronova et al. 1987, pl. 22, fig. 1) is a slightly
damaged ventral valve which is closely comparable to the new specimens in
terms of shell morphology as well as the position and shape of the pedicle
foramen. The incomplete state of all specimens of E. tubulus hampers specific
characterisation but the species can be differentiated from the type species,
E. spurri, and E. granulata by the size and shape of the pedicle foramen
which is small and oval, lenticular rather than subtriangular and by the lack of
a distinct tubular internal extension of the pedicle foramen (Walcott 1908;
Roberts and Jell 1990). The anterior flexing of the valve also appears to be
less pronounced and the apex is less strongly elevated above the rest of the
ventral valve.
Specimens referred to Eothele sp. by Skovsted and Peel (2007) from the
Forteau Formation of western Newfoundland are identical to the material from
Pennsylvania and are here reinterpreted as E. tubulus. Specimens referred to
Eothele cf. spurri from the middle Cambrian Sidi-Saïd-Maâchou
volcanosedimentary complex of Morocco (Alvaro et al. 2008) have a similar
lenticular pedicle foramen, but their poor preservation precludes definite
taxonomic evaluation.
One unusual specimen is strongly deformed by a circumferential
constriction of the ventral valve resulting in an elongated, almost tubular
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shape (Fig. 4.13). The specimen was probably affected by deformation in life
and seems to have responded to the damage by secretion of thick columnar
shell layers at an angle to shell layers in the primary shell (Fig. 4.14). The
shell preserves no external markings that may be related to physical damage
(except the unusual shape) and the nature of the process leading to the
preserved morphology is difficult to deduce.
The shell structure of Eothele tubulus was briefly described as columnar
by Ushatinskaya (in Voronova et al. 1987, p. 50), but the material from
Thomasville allow a more detailed investigation. Based on the lack of central
canals in the narrow columnar elements and the unperforated interlaminar
surfaces, the shell structure of Eothele tubulus is best described as baculate.
The presence of both orthogonal vertical and inclined bacula in the same shell
is reminiscent of the situation in Curticia? pattersonensis from the middle
Cambrian of the Great Basin (Streng and Holmer 2005). This shell structure
was interpreted by Streng et al. (2008) as intermediate between typical
baculate and orthogonal baculate shell structures. Orthogonal columnar shell
structures may be plesiomorphic for linguliform brachiopods and are
characteristic of the stem group brachiopod Mickwitzia cf. occidens from the
lower Cambrian of Greenland (Skovsted and Holmer 2003). Eothele tubulus is
currently the oldest brachiopod known with orthogonal bacula, and the
evolution of this type of shell structure thus must have started already in the
early Cambrian. The closely related middle Cambrian acrothelid, Acrothele, is
known to have a typical baculate shell structure (Cusack et al. 1999). The
presence of an orthogonal baculate shell structure in Eothele also supports
the suggestion by Streng and Holmer (2005) that the problematic family
Curticiidae is closely related to the acrothelids.
Occurrence. ─ The inferred upper lower Cambrian of an unidentified rock
unit above the Sekwi Formation, Northwest Territories, Canada; upper lower
Cambrian Forteau Formation of western Newfoundland and Kinzers
Formation of Pennsylvania.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Dr R.D.K. Thomas (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) is cordially thanked for
guiding J.S. Peel in the field, making additional collections available for
examination and for information concerning Thomasville geology. Dr. M.
Streng (Uppsala) and Dr. U. Balthasar (Glasgow) provided valuable
discussions and insights into Cambrian linguloid shell structures. Constructive
reviews by two anonymous reviewers are greatly appreciated. Grants from the
Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) are gratefully acknowledged.
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15
Figures
Fossils \ Region
Pennsylv
ania
NY
Sta
te
Quebec
Weste
rn
New
foundla
nd
North
East
Gre
enla
nd
North
Gre
enla
nd
Eothele tubulus x x
Hadrotreta sp. x x x x x x
Eoobolus priscus x x x x x
Micromitra sp. x x x
Pelagiella sp. x x x x
Yochelcionella americana x x x
Yochelcionella chinensis x x x x x
Yochelcionella greenlandica x x
Planutenia flectata x x
Conotheca australiensis x x x x x
Hyolithid sp. x x x x x x
Chancelloria sp. x x x x x x
H. micans x x x x x x
Salterella cf. mccullochi x x x x
Hexactinellid spic. x x x x
Dodecaactinella spic. x x
Echinoderm oss. x x x x x x Table 1─ Faunal content the Thomasville fauna and comparisons with coeval
faunas from eastern Laurentia. Based on Walcott 1886; Schuchert and
Dunbar 1938; Resser and Howell 1938; Lochman 1956; Landing and
Bartowski 1996; Landing et al. 2002; Skovsted 2004, 2006a; Malinky and
Skovsted 2004; Skovsted and Peel 2007.
16
FIGURE 1─ Map of North America with east Laurentian lower Cambrian
localities mentioned in the text indicated, detailed locality maps of the
Thomasville locality and generalised Cambrian stratigraphy of Pennsylvania.
A, North Greenland; B, North-East Greenland; C, western Newfoundland; D,
Taconic Allochthons of New York State; E, Thomasville, Pennsylvania.
17
FIGURE 2─ Helcionellids, hyoliths and brachiopods from the lower Kinzers
Formation, Thomasville, Pennsylvania. Unless otherwise stated, all scalebars
equal 200 µm.
2.1-2.2: Yochelcionella chinensis; USNM zzz01; 2.1, lateral view of specimen
missing snorkel; 2.2, anterior view. Scalebars equal 500 µm.
2.3-2.5: Yochelcionella americana; 2.3, USNM zzz02, lateral view; 2.4, USNM
zzz03, lateral view; 2.5, USNM zzz04, anterior view. Scalebars equal 100 µm.
2.6: Yochelcionella greenlandica; USNM zzz05, lateral view. Scalebar equalS
500 µm.
2.7: Planutenia flectata; USNM zzz06, lateral view. Scalebar equals 100 µm.
18
2.8-2.11: Pelagiella sp.; 2.8, 2.9, USNM zzz07; 2.8, apical view; 2.9, apertural
view; 2.10, 2.11, USNM zzz08; 2.10, apical view; 2.11, apertural view.
Scalebars equal 500 µm.
2.12-2.14: Conotheca australiensis; 2.12, 2.13, USNM zzz09; 2.12, lateral
view; 2.13, apertural view; 2.14, USNM zzz10, lateral view of conch with
flaring aperture.
2.15-2.16: Hyolithid conch; USNM zzz11; 2.15, view of dorsum; 2.16,
apertural view.
2.17: Micromitra sp.; USNM zzz12; internal view of ventral? valve.
2.18-2.21: Hadrotreta sp.; 2.18, USNM zzz13, ventral valve exterior; 2.19,
USNM zzz14, ventral valve interior; 2.20, USNM zzz15, obilque view of
ventral valve interior; 2.21, USNM zzz16, dorsal valve interior.
2.22: Eoobolus priscus; USNM zzz17, ventral valve interior.
19
FIGURE 3─ Small shelly fossils from the lower Kinzers Formation,
Thomasville, Pennsylvania. Unless otherwise stated, all scalebars equal 200
µm.
3.1-3.3: Salterella mccullochi; 3.1, USNM zzz18, lateral view of phosphatic
internal mould; 3.2, 3.3, USNM zzz19; 3.2, Lateral view of silicified? Conch;
3.3, apertural view.
3.4-3.6: Chancelloria sp. 3.4, 3.5, USNM zzz20; 3.4, Basal facet of
phosphatised 7+1 sclerite; 3.5, detail of 3.4 showing morphology of structures
around basal foramen of one ray, scalebar equal 100 µm; 3.6, USNM zzz21,
phosphatic internal mould of probable 7+1 sclerite missing two rays.
3.7-3.8: Dodecaactinella spicule; USNM zzz22; 3.7, detail of 3.8 showing
etched calcitic surface with dissolution faces of the crystal lattice, scalebar
equals 10 µm; 3.8, partly broken bilaterally symmetrical Y-shaped spicule.
3.9: Hexactinellid spicule; USNM zzz23, lateral view of 6-rayed spicule.
3.10-3.11: Hyolithellus sp.; 3.10, USNM zzz24, lateral view of tube fragment;
3.11, USNM zzz25, lateral view of tube fragment.
3.12-3.15: Echinoderm ossicles; 3.12, 3.13, USNM zzz25; 3.12, detail of 3.13
showing etched surface with dissolution faces of the calcite crystal lattice,
scalebar equals 20 µm; 3.13, dorsal view of ossicle composed of
monocrystaline calcite; 3.14, 3.15, USNM zzz26; 3.14, dorsal view of
secondarily phosphatised ossicle; 3.15, detail of surface of 3.14 showing
phosphatised stereome, scalebar equals 20 µm.
20
FIGURE 4─ Eothele tubulus Ushatinskaya in Voronova et al., 1987 from the
lower Kinzers Formation, Thomasville, Pennsylvania. Scalebars equal 200 µm
in 4.1,4.2,4.7,4.8,4.9,4.10,4.12,4.13,4.17, 50µ in 4.3,4.4,4.11,4.14 and 10 µm
in 4.5,4.6,4.15,4.16,4.18,4.19.
4.1-4.6: USNM zzz27; 4.1, ventral valve exterior; 4.2, oblique posterior view;
4.3, detail showing larval shell morphology; 4.4, lateral view of larval shell;
4.5, detail of larval shell ornament; 4.6, detail of adult shell ornament.
4.7-4.8: USNM zzz28; 4.7, ventral valve exterior; 4.8, lateral view.
4.9-4-11: USNM zzz29; 4.9, ventral valve exterior; 4.10, oblique posterior
view; 4.11, detail of pseudointerarea showing lenticular pedicle foramen.
21
4.12: USNM zzz30, oblique anterior view of ventral valve interior showing V-
shaped anterior muscle field and paired umbonal or transmedian
musclescars.
4.13-4-16: USNM zzz31; 4.13, posterior view of deformed ventral valve
showing lateral constriction of the shell and damaged pseudointerarea; 4.14,
detail of broken shell edge with shell structure preserved; 4.15, detail of 4.14
showing one shell layer dominated by vertical columns; 4.16, detail of 4.14
showing shell layers dominated by inclined columns.
4.17-4.19: USNM zzz32; 4.17, ventral valve interior with V-shaped anterior
muscle field; 4.18, broken shell edge showing stratified shell structure
dominated by vertical columns; 4.19, partly exfoliated shell layers showing
combination of vertical and inclined columns.