Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T04:01:17.725Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Apparatus architecture of Belodina (Conodonta): Interpretations based on fused clusters of Belodina compressa (Branson and Mehl, 1933) from the Middle Ordovician (Turinian) Plattin Limestone of Missouri and Iowa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Stephen A. Leslie*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Science, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, 72204, [email protected]

Abstract

Twelve fused clusters of conodont elements representing the apparatus of Belodina compressa (Branson and Mehl, 1933) were recovered from the Plattin Limestone (Turinian) near New London, Missouri, and Hanover, Iowa. These clusters show that the apparatus of B. compressa consisted of four morphologically distinct elements: eobelodiniform (M), compressiform (S1), grandiform (S2), and dispansiform (S3) elements. All four element types are also present in fused clusters of B. confluens Sweet, 1979, supporting the interpretation that Belodina had a quadrimembrate apparatus. The B. compressa clusters were recovered from pellet-rich wackestones that yielded relatively large and diverse conodont faunas, in which only the elements of B. compressa were fused. The elements of B. compressa present in the fused clusters may have been deposited in fecal pellets, where a higher concentration of calcium phosphate, combined with the relatively large surface area contacts between B. compressa elements, facilitated the fusing of these elements into clusters. These fused clusters provide the basis for interpretation of the apparatus architecture of Belodina.

Type
Research Article
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

Aldridge, R. J. 1982. A fused cluster of coniform conodont elements from the Late Ordovician of Washington Land, western North Greenland. Palaeontology, 25:425430.Google Scholar
Aldridge, R. J. and Theron, J. N. 1993. Conodonts with preserved soft tissue from a new Ordovician Konserva-Lagerstätte. Journal of Micropalaeontology, 12:113117.Google Scholar
Aldridge, R. J., Briggs, D. E. G., Smith, M. P., Clarkson, E. N. K., and Clark, N. D. L. 1993. The anatomy of conodonts. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 340:405421.Google Scholar
Aldridge, R. J., Purnell, M. A., Gabbott, S. E., and Theron, J. N. 1995. The apparatus architecture and function of Promissum pulchrum Kovacsendrody (Conodonta, Upper Ordovician) and the prioniodontid plan. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 347:275291.Google Scholar
Austin, R. L., and Rhodes, F. H. T. 1969. A conodont assemblage from the Carboniferous of the Avon Gorge, Bristol. Palaeontology, 12:400405.Google Scholar
Barnes, C. R. 1967. A questionable conodont assemblage from Middle Ordovician limestones, Ottawa, Canada. Journal of Paleontology, 6:15571560.Google Scholar
Bergström, S. M., and Sweet, W. C. 1966. Conodonts from the Lexington Limestone (Middle Ordovician) of Kentucky and its equivalents in Ohio and Indiana. Bulletins of American Paleontology, 50(229):271441.Google Scholar
Branson, E. B. 1938. Stratigraphy and paleontology of the Lower Mississippian of Missouri. Part I. University of Missouri Studies 13, 208 p.Google Scholar
Branson, E. B., and Mehl, M. G. 1933. Conodont studies no. 2: Conodonts from the Joachim (Middle Ordovician) of Missouri; Conodonts from the Plattin (Middle Ordovician) of Missouri; Conodonts from the Maquoketa-Thebes (Upper Ordovician) of Missouri; A study of Hinde's types of conodonts preserved in the British Museum. University of Missouri Studies, 8:77167.Google Scholar
Dzik, J. 1991. Evolution of oral apparatuses in the conodont chordates. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 36:265323.Google Scholar
Dzik, J., and Drygant, D. 1986. The apparatus of panderodontid conodonts. Lethaia, 19:131141.Google Scholar
Ethington, R. L. 1959. Conodonts of the Ordovician Galena formation. Journal of Paleontology, 33:257292.Google Scholar
Glenister, A. T. 1957. The conodonts of the Ordovician Maquoketa Formation in Iowa. Journal of Paleontology, 31:715746.Google Scholar
Landing, E. 1977. Prooneotodustenuis (Müller, 1959) apparatuses from the Taconic allochthon, eastern New York: construction, taphonomy and the protoconodont “supertooth” model. Journal of Paleontology, 51:10721084.Google Scholar
Leslie, S. A. 1995. Upper Middle Ordovician conodont biofacies distribution patterns in eastern North America and northwestern Europe: evaluations using the Deicke, Millbrig and Kinnekulle K-bentonite beds as time planes. Unpublished , The Ohio State University, Columbus, 450 p.Google Scholar
Leslie, S. A., and Bergström, S. M. 1995. Timing of the Trenton Transgression and revision of the North American late Middle Ordovician stage classification based on K-bentonite bed correlation, p. 4954. In Cooper, J. D., Droser, M. L., and Finney, S. C. (eds.), Ordovician Odyssey: Short Papers for the Seventh International Symposium on the Ordovician System. Pacific Section SEPM, Volume 77, 498 p.Google Scholar
Lindström, M. 1970. A suprageneric taxonomy of the conodont. Lethaia, 3:427445.Google Scholar
Nicoll, R. S. 1995. Conodont element morphology, apparatus reconstructions and element function: a new interpretation of conodont biology with taxonomic implications. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, 182:247262.Google Scholar
Nicoll, R. S., and Rexroad, C. B. 1987. Re-examination of Silurian conodont clusters from northern Indiana, p. 4962. In Aldridge, R. J. (ed.), Paleobiology of Conodonts. Ellis Harwood Limited, Chichester, 180 p.Google Scholar
Nowlan, G. S. 1979. Fused clusters of the conodont genus Belodina Ethington from the Thumb Mountain Formation (Ordovician), Ellesmere Island, District of Franklin. Current Research, Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 79-1A:213218.Google Scholar
Pander, C. H. 1856. Monographie der fossilen Fische des Silurischen Systems der Russisch-Baltischen Gouvernements. Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften St. Petersburg, 91 p.Google Scholar
Pollock, C. A. 1969. Fused Silurian conodont clusters from Indiana. Journal of Paleontology, 43:929935.Google Scholar
Purnell, M. A. 1993. Feeding mechanisms in conodonts and the function of the earliest vertebrate hard tissues. Geology, 21:375377.Google Scholar
Ramovs, A. 1978. Mitteltriassische Conodonten-clusters in Slowenien, NW Jugoslawien. Paläontologische Zeitschrift, 52:129137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Repetski, J. E. 1980. Early Ordovician fused conodont clusters from the western United States, p. 207209. In Schoenlaub, H. (ed.), European Conodont Symposium II Guidebook, Abhandlungen der Geologischen Bundesanstalt, 35.Google Scholar
Rexroad, C. B., and Nicoll, R. S. 1964. A Silurian conodont with tetanus? Journal of Paleontology, 38:771773.Google Scholar
Sansom, I. J., Armstrong, H. A., and Smith, M. P. 1994. The apparatus architecture of Panderodus and its implications for coniform conodont classification. Palaeontology, 37:781799.Google Scholar
Schopf, T. J. 1966. Conodonts of the Trenton Group (Ordovician) in New York, southern Ontario, and Quebec. New York State Museum and Science Service Bulletin 405, 105 p.Google Scholar
Stauffer, C. R. 1935. The conodont fauna of the Decorah Shale (Ordovician). Journal of Paleontology, 9:596620.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C. 1979. Late Ordovician conodonts and biostratigraphy of the western Midcontinent Province. Brigham Young University Geology Studies, 26:4588.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C. 1981a. Genus Belodina Ethington. 1959, p. 6569. In Ziegler, (ed.) Catalogue of Conodonts E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung IV.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C. 1981b. Macromorphology of elements and apparatuses, p. W5W20. In Robison, R. A. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part W, Supplement 2, Conodonta. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C. 1988. The Conodonta: Morphology, taxonomy paleoecology and evolutionary history of a long-extinct animal phylum, Oxford Press, 169 p.Google Scholar
Webers, G. F. 1966. The Middle and Upper Ordovician conodont faunas of Minnesota, Minnesota Geological Survey Special Publication, Number 4, 123 p.Google Scholar
Ziegler, W., and Lindström, M. 1981. Chemical and mineralogical properties, p. W52W56. In Robinson, R. A. (ed.), Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part W, Supplement 2, Conodonta. Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, Lawrence.Google Scholar