Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T16:58:47.718Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Morphology and phylogeny of some early Silurian (Mid-Rhuddanian) monograptid graptolites from the South Urals of Russia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Michael J. Melchin
Affiliation:
Geology Department, St. Francis Xavier University, P.O. Box 5000, Antigonish, Nova Scotia B2G 2W5, Canada,
Tatjana N. Koren'
Affiliation:
All-Russia Geological Research Institute (VSEGEI), Sredny Pr. 74, 199026, St. Petersburg, Russia,

Abstract

An unusually well-preserved fauna of isolated monograptid graptolites has been recovered from the Sakmara Formation, in the Orenburg District of the South Urals of Russia. Seven different taxa belonging to three genera can be distinguished in these collections, including four new species, Pribylograptus orskensis n. sp., Monoclimacis? galeritus n. sp., Monoclimacis? orenburgensis n. sp., and Monoclimacis? oscitatus n. sp. Study of these new species using infrared video microscopy reveals two features never previously identified in monograptid graptolites on the three species of Monoclimacis?: thecal hoods constructed from both apertural and genicular fuselli; and, a resorption porus that shows some outward inflation or bulging as well as slight fusellar deflection. These two features may both represent stages of morphologic transition to the more “advanced” primary porus and apertural hoods and hooks seen in later monograptids. Phylogenetic analysis of these and some other Rhuddanian taxa suggests that species with “monoclimacid”” thecae arose once in the Rhuddanian from a Huttagraptus ancestor and these species later gave rise to the various groups of biform and uniform monograptids with apertural-hooded and hooked thecae. Those biform taxa with “monoclimacid” or hooked proximal thecae and lappeted (“pribylograptid”) distal thecae appear to have arisen from within this group independently of the lineage leading to Pribylograptus sensu stricto.

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

Chen, Xu, and Yaokun, Lin. 1978. Lower Silurian graptolites from Tongzi, northern Guizhou. Memoir of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Academica Sinica, 12:176. (In Chinese)Google Scholar
Crowther, P. R. 1981. The fine structure of the graptolite periderm. Special Papers in Palaeontology, 26, 119 p.Google Scholar
Felsenstein, J. 1995. PHYLIP (Phytogeny Inference Package) Version 3.57c. University of Washington.Google Scholar
Fortey, R. A., and Cooper, R. A. 1986. A phylogenetic classification of the graptoloids. Palaeontology, 29:631654.Google Scholar
Frech, F. 1897. Lethaea Geognostica, 1, Theil., Lethaea Palaeozoica, 1, 11, Graptolithen. Schweizerbart, Stuttgart, p. 544684.Google Scholar
Hutt, J. E. 1974. A new group of Llandovery biform monograptids, p. 189203. In Rickards, R. B., Jackson, D. E., and Hughes, C. P. (eds.), Graptolite Studies in Honour of O. M. B. Bulman. The Palaeontological Association, London, Special Papers in Paleontology, 13.Google Scholar
Koren', T. N., and Bjerreskov, M. 1997. Early Llandovery monograptids from Bornholm and the southern Urals: taxonomy and evolution. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Denmark, 44:143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koren', T. N., and Rickards, R. B. In press. An unusually diverse Llandovery (Silurian) diplograptid fauna from the southern Urals of Russia and its evolutionay significance. The Palaeontological Association, London, Special Papers in Palaeontology.Google Scholar
Lapworth, C. 1873. Notes on British graptolites and their allies. 1. On an improved classification of the Rhabdophora. Geological Magazine, 10:500504, 555560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Jijin. 1990. Discovery of monograptids in basal part of Lower Silurian from S. Anhui with special reference to their origin. Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, 29:204215. (In Chinese)Google Scholar
Lukasik, J., and Melchin, M. J. 1994. Atavograptus primitivus (Li) from the earliest Silurian of Arctic Canada: implications for monograptid evolution. Journal of Paleontology, 68:11591163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lukasik, J., and Melchin, M. J. 1997. Morphology and classification of some early Silurian monograptids (Graptoloidea) from the Cape Phillips Formation, Canadian Arctic Islands. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 34:11281149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melchin, M. J. 1998. Morphology and phytogeny of some Early Silurian “diplograptid” genera from Cornwallis Island, Arctic Canada. Palaeontology, 41:263326.Google Scholar
Melchin, M. J. and Anderson, A. J. 1998. Infrared video microscopy for the study of graptolites and other organic-walled fossils. Journal of Paleontology, 72:397400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Melchin, M. J., Koren, T. N.', and Lukasik, J. J. 1998. Morphology and phytogeny of some Rhuddanian monograptids from the South Urals and Artic Canada based on observations from Infrared Video Microscopy, p. 220221. In Gutierrez-Marco, J. C. and Rábano, I. (eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth International Graptolite Conference of the GWG (IPA) and the 1998 Field Meeting of the International Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy (ICS-IUGS). Instituto Tecnotógico Geominero de España, Temas Geológico-Mineros, 23.Google Scholar
Mitchell, C. E. 1987. The evolution and classification of the Diplograptacea. Palaeontology, 30:353405.Google Scholar
Nicholson, H. A. 1872. Monograph of the British Graptolitidae. Blackwood, London, 133 p.Google Scholar
Obut, A. M., and Sobolevskaya, R. F. 1966. Lower Silurian graptolites in Kazakhstan. Akademiya Nauk SSSR, Sibriskoe otdelenie institut geologii i geofiziki, 56 p. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Obut, A. M., and Sobolevskaya, R. F. 1968. Graptolite description, p. 57118. In Obut, A. M., Sobolevskaya, R. F., and Merkur'eva, A. P., Llandovery graptolites from a borehole core in the Noril'sk Region. Moscow, Akademiya Nauk SSSR. (In Russian)Google Scholar
Rickards, R. B. 1976. Classification of Monograptus: a redefinition of some Llandovery graptolite genera, p. 155162. In Kaljo, D. and Koren, T. (eds.), Graptolites and Stratigraphy. Academy of Sciences of Estonian SSR, Institut of Geology.Google Scholar
Rickards, R. B., and Hutt, J. E. 1970. The earliest monograptid. Proceedings of the Geological Society of London, 1663:115119.Google Scholar
Rickards, R. B., Hutt., J. E., and Berry, W. B. N. 1977. Evolution of the Silurian and Devonian Graptoloids. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology, 28:1120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rigby, S. 1994. Hemichordate skeletal growth: shared patterns in Rhabdopleura and graptoloids. Lethaia, 27:317324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russel, J. C., Melchin, M. J., and Koren, T. N.'. 2000. Taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of some species of Paraclimacograptus from the Canadian Arctic and the Southern Urals of Russia. Journal of Paleontology, 74:8491.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Törnquist, S. L. 1899. Researches into the Monograptidae of the Scanian Rastrites beds. Acta Universitets Lunds, 35:125.Google Scholar
Walker, M. O. 1953. The development of Monograptus dubius and Monograptus chimaera . Geological Magazine, 90:362373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zalasiewicz, J. A. 1992. Two new graptolites from the early Silurian (Llandovery: Aeronian) of central Wales: an origin for monoclimacid thecal morphology. Geological Magazine, 129:779785.CrossRefGoogle Scholar