Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T04:48:17.606Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A new eurypterid (Chelicerata) from the Upper Ordovician of Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Christopher A. Stott
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
O. Erik Tetlie
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, PO Box 208109, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8109,
Simon J. Braddy
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen's Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, United Kingdom
Godfrey S. Nowlan
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Canada, 3303-33rd Street N.W., Calgary, Alberta T2L 2A7, Canada
Paul M. Glasser
Affiliation:
School of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C1, Canada
Matthew G. Devereux
Affiliation:
Faculty of Science, Office of the Dean, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada

Abstract

A new genus and species of eurypterid (Eurypterida: Chelicerata) is described as Orcanopterus manitoulinensis from the Upper Ordovician Kagawong Submember (Upper Member) of the Georgian Bay Formation, Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada. The material comprises several partial specimens in addition to disarticulated carapaces, appendages, metastomas, opisthosomal segments, and telsons. Associated fossils include rare bryozoans, a conularid, ostracodes, and conodonts. A restricted marine lagoon, or very shallow subtidal to intertidal environment is inferred. This assemblage, perhaps representing an accumulation of molted exuviae, was apparently preserved as the result of rapid burial by carbonate muds and silts during a storm event. O. manitoulinensis shares a number of traits with both the Hughmilleriidae and the Carcinosomatidae. Diagnostic features include curved preabdominal segments, a petaloid A metastoma with deep anterior emargination, spiniferous appendages of Carcinosoma type, paddle with enlarged, symmetrical podomere 9, and a xiphous telson. It is only the fourth (the first Canadian) well-documented Ordovician eurypterid genus, and provides the oldest reliable record of the Hughmillerioidea to date.

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

Armstrong, H. A., and Owen, A. W. 2002. Euconodont diversity changes in a cooling and closing Iapetus Ocean, p. 8598. In Crame, J. A. and Owen, A. W. (eds.), Paleobiology and Biodiversity Change: The Ordovician and Mesozoic–Cenozoic Radiations. Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 194.Google Scholar
Barnes, C. R., and Bolton, T. E. 1988. The Ordovician-Silurian boundary on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada. Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History (Geology), 43:247253.Google Scholar
Barnes, C. R., and Fåhraeus, L. E. 1975. Provinces, communities, and the proposed nektobenthic habit of Ordovician conodontophorids. Lethaia, 8(2):133149.Google Scholar
Barnes, C. R., Telford, P. G., and Tarrant, G. A. 1978. Ordovician and Silurian conodont biostratigraphy, Manitoulin Island and Bruce Peninsula, Ontario. Michigan Basin Geological Society Special Paper, 3:6371.Google Scholar
Braddy, S. J. 2001. Eurypterid palaeoecology: palaeobiological, ichnological and comparative evidence for a ‘mass-moult-mate’ hypothesis. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 172:115132.Google Scholar
Braddy, S. J., and Dunlop, J. A. 2000. Early Devonian eurypterids from the Northwest Territories of Arctic Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 37:11671175.Google Scholar
Braddy, S. J., Selden, P. A., and Doan Nhat, T. 2002. A new carcinosomatid eurypterid from the Upper Silurian of northern Vietnam. Palaeontology, 45:897915.Google Scholar
Braddy, S. J., Tollerton, V. P. Jr., Racheboeuf, P. P., and Schallreuter, R. 2004. Eurypterids, phyllocarids and ostracodes, p. 255265. In Webby, B. D., Droser, M. L., and Paris, F. (eds.), The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Branson, E. B., and Mehl, M. G. 1933. Conodont Studies. University of Missouri Studies, 8, 349 p., 28 pls.Google Scholar
Branson, E. B., Mehl, M. G., and Branson, C. C. 1951. Richmond conodonts of Kentucky and Indiana. Journal of Paleontology, 25:117.Google Scholar
Brett, C. E., Baird, G. C., and Speyer, S. E. 1997. Fossil Lagerstätten: Stratigraphic record of paleontological and taphonomic events, p. 340. In Brett, C. E. and Baird, G. C. (eds.), Paleontological Events. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Burmeister, H. 1843. Die Organisation der Trilobiten, aus ihren lebenden Verwandten entwickelt; nebst systematische Uebersicht aller zeither beschriebenen Arten. G. Reimer, Berlin, 148 p.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byerley, M., and Coniglio, M. 1991. Stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Upper Ordovician Georgian Bay Formation, Manitoulin Island and Bruce Peninsula. Evaluation of hardgrounds, biostromes and storm beds for regional correlation. Ontario Geological Survey Miscellaneous Paper, 156:315.Google Scholar
Caster, K. E., and Kjellesvig-Waering, E. N. 1964. Upper Ordovician eurypterids of Ohio. Palaeontographica Americana, 4:301358.Google Scholar
Chartier, M., Cournoyer, M., and Veilleux, P. 2002. Upper Ordovician eurypterids from the Rivière des Hurons, southern Québec. Canadian Paleontology Conference 2002 Program and Abstracts, 12:7.Google Scholar
Clarke, J. M., and Ruedemann, R. 1912. The Eurypterida of New York. Memoirs of the New York State Museum of Natural History, 14:1439.Google Scholar
Claypole, E. W. 1890. Carcinosoma newlini . American Geologist, 6:400.Google Scholar
Copeland, M. J., and Bolton, T. E. 1960. The Eurypterida of Canada. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 60:1348.Google Scholar
Copeland, M. J., and Bolton, T. E. 1985. Fossils of Ontario, Pt. 3, The Eurypterids and Phyllocarids. Ontario: Royal Ontario Museum, Life Sciences Miscellaneous Publications, 48 p.Google Scholar
Copper, P. 1978. Paleoenvironments and paleocommunities in the Ordovician-Silurian sequence of Manitoulin Island. Michigan Basin Geological Society Special Paper, 3:4761.Google Scholar
Copper, P. 1982. Early Silurian atrypoids from Manitoulin Island and Bruce Peninsula, Ontario. Journal of Paleontology, 56:680702.Google Scholar
Copper, P., and Grawbarger, D. J. 1978. Paleoecological succession leading to a late Ordovician biostrome on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 15:19872005.Google Scholar
Dennison, J. M. 1976. Appalachian Queenston delta related to eustatic sea-level drop accompanying Late Ordovician glaciation centred in Africa, p. 107120. In Bassett, M. G. (ed.), The Ordovician System: Proceedings of a Palaeontological Association Symposium, Birmingham, U.K., September 1974. University of Wales Press and National Museum of Wales, Cardiff.Google Scholar
Elias, R. J. 1980. An Upper Ordovician eurypterid from Manitoba. Journal of Paleontology, 54:262263.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, 31:715736.Google Scholar
Goldman, D., and Bergström, S. M. 1997. Late Ordovician graptolites from the North American Midcontinent. Palaeontology, 40:9651010.Google Scholar
Hall, J. 1852. 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). Palaeontology of New York. Volume 2. New York Geological Survey, Albany, 362 p.Google Scholar
Hall, J. 1859. Eurypterida. Palaeontology of New York. Volume 3. New York Geological Survey, Albany, p. 382424.Google Scholar
Heymons, R. 1901. Die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Scolopender. Zoologica, 13(2–5):244.Google Scholar
Jeram, A. J. 1996. Chelicerata from the Escuminac Formation, p. 103111. In Schultze, H.-P. and Cloutier, R. (eds.), Devonian Fishes and Plants of Miguasha, Québec, Canada. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich.Google Scholar
Kjellesvig-Waering, E. N. 1951. Downtonian (Silurian) Eurypterida from Perton, near Stoke Edith, Herefordshire. Geological Magazine, 88:124.Google Scholar
Kjellesvig-Waering, E. N. 1966. A revision of the families and genera of the Stylonuracea (Eurypterida). Fieldiana Geology, 14:169197.Google Scholar
Kobluk, D. R. 1984. Coastal paleokarst near the Ordovician–Silurian boundary, Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology, 32:398407.Google Scholar
Kohut, J. J., and Sweet, W. C. 1968. The American Upper Ordovician Standard; X, Upper Maysville and Richmond conodonts from the Cincinnati Region of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. Journal of Paleontology, 42:14561477.Google Scholar
Leatham, W. B. 1984. Conodont biostratigraphy of the Ordovician/Silurian systemic boundary in the Fish Haven and Laketown dolomites of northern Utah. Unpublished , , 187 p.Google Scholar
Le Fèvre, J., Barnes, C. R., and Tixier, M. 1976. Paleoecology of Late Ordovician and Early Silurian conodontophorids, Hudson Bay Basin, p. 6989. In Barnes, C. R. (ed.), Conodont Paleoecology. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper, 15.Google Scholar
Miller, S. A. 1874. Notes and descriptions of Cincinnatian Group fossils. Cincinnati Quarterly Journal of Science, 1:343351.Google Scholar
Norford, B. S., Nowlan, G. S., Haidl, F. M., and Bezys, R. K. 1998. The Ordovician–Silurian boundary interval in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Eighth International Williston Basin Symposium, Saskatchewan Geological Survey Special Publication, 13:2745.Google Scholar
Nowlan, G. S. 2001. Report on twenty-five samples from Ordovician and Silurian strata, near Kagawong and West Bay, Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Geological Survey of Canada Paleontological Report, 009-GSN-2001, 18 p.Google Scholar
Nowlan, G. S., and Barnes, C. R. 1981. Late Ordovician conodonts from the Vauréal Formation, Anticosti Island, Québec. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin, 329:149.Google Scholar
Page, D. 1856. Advanced Text-Book of Geology. William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, 416 p.Google Scholar
Plotnick, R. E. 1999. Habitat of Llandoverian–Lochkovian eurypterids, p. 106131. In Boucot, A. J. and Lawson, J. D. (eds.), Paleocommunities: A Case Study from the Silurian and Lower Devonian. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Plotnick, R. E., and Elliott, D. K. 1995. A Lower Devonian stylonurid eurypterid from Arctic Canada. Journal of Paleontology, 69:399402.Google Scholar
Pollock, C. A., Rexroad, C. B., and Nicoll, R. S. 1970. Lower Silurian conodonts from northern Michigan and Ontario. Journal of Paleontology, 44:743764.Google Scholar
Rhodes, F. H. T. 1953. Some British Lower Palaeozoic conodont faunas. Royal Society of London Philosophical Transactions, series B, 237(647):261334.Google Scholar
Ritchie, A. 1968. Lanarkopterus dolichoschelus (Størmer) gen. nov., a mixopterid eurypterid from the Upper Silurian of the Lesmahagow and Hagshaw Hills inliers, Scotland. Scottish Journal of Geology, 4:317338.Google Scholar
Salter, J. W. 1856. On some new Crustacea from the Uppermost Silurian Rocks. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 12:2634.Google Scholar
Salter, J. W. 1859. On some new species of Eurypterus; with notes on the distribution of species. Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, 15:229236.Google Scholar
Sarle, C. J. 1903. A new eurypterid fauna from the base of the Salina of western New York. New York State Museum Bulletin, 69:10801108.Google Scholar
Stauffer, C. R. 1940. Conodonts from the Devonian and associated clays of Minnesota. Journal of Paleontology, 14:417435.Google Scholar
Størmer, L. 1934. Merostomata from the Downtonian Sandstones of Ringerike, Norway. Skrifter utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademie i Oslo, 1933, No. 10, 125 p., 12 pls.Google Scholar
Størmer, L. 1974. Arthropods from the Lower Devonian (Lower Emsian) of Alken an der Mosel, Germany, Pt. 4, Eurypterida, Drepanopteridae, and other groups. Senckenbergiana Lethaea, 54:359451.Google Scholar
Stott, C. A., Glasser, P. M., and Devereux, M. G. 2001. A new eurypterid Lagerstätte in Uppermost Ordovician strata, Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Canadian Paleontology Conference 2001 Program and Abstracts, 11:4549.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C. 1979a. Conodonts and conodont biostratigraphy of the post-Tyrone Ordovician rocks of the Cincinnati Region. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper, 1066-G, 26 p.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C. 1979b. Late Ordovician conodonts and biostratigraphy of the western Midcontinent Province. Brigham Young University, Geology Studies, 26(3):4585.Google Scholar
Sweet, W. C., and Bergström, S. M. 1984. Conodont provinces and biofacies of the Late Ordovician. Geological Society of America Special Paper, 196:6987.Google Scholar
Tollerton, V. P. Jr., 1989. Morphology, taxonomy, and classification of the order Eurypterida Burmeister, 1843. Journal of Paleontology, 63:642657.Google Scholar
Tollerton, V. P. Jr. 2004. Summary of a revision of New York State Ordovician eurypterids: Implications for eurypterid palaeoecology, diversity and evolution. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, 94:235242.Google Scholar
Tollerton, V. P. Jr. and Landing, E. 1994. The myth of Ordovician eurypterids in New York State. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 26(3):76.Google Scholar
Way, H. G. 1936. The Silurian of Manitoulin Island, Ontario. Unpublished , , 123 p.Google Scholar