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The occurrence of the hydrozoan genus Cassianastraea from Upper Triassic (Carnian) rocks of Williston Lake, British Columbia, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

George D. Stanley Jr.  and
John-Paul Zonneveld
George D. Stanley Jr.
Affiliation:
1The University of Montana Paleontology Center, Missoula, Montana 59812, USA,
John-Paul Zonneveld
Affiliation:
2Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E3,
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Abstract

Cassianastraea is an enigmatic colonial Triassic cnidarian first described as a coral but subsequently referred to the Hydrozoa. We report here the first occurrence in Canada of fossils we designate as Cassianastraea sp. from the Williston Lake region of British Columbia. The specimens come from older collections of the Geological Survey of Canada, collected in Upper Triassic (Carnian) strata assigned to either the Ludington or Baldonnel Formations. While well known in reef associations of the former Tethys region, Cassianiastraea is relatively rare in North America. The Carnian Baldonnel Formation contains the earliest coral reefs from the North American craton and we suspect that Cassianastraea sp. also came from this reef association.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 85 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 29 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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