Russel Branch, sample 3 (RB3), Waynesville Formation, St. Marys, IN (Ordovician of the United States)

Where: Indiana (39.4° N, 85.1° W: paleocoordinates 24.9° S, 59.1° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• hand sample-level geographic resolution

When: Waynesville Formation, Ashgill (449.5 - 443.7 Ma)

• Middle Richmondian age. Sample #3 collected. Details on stratigraphy and sedimentation (lithology), and additional details of gastropod and bivalve fauna are included from Novack-Gottshall and Miller (2003) [PBDB reference #18186] and field notes.

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: offshore shelf; lithified, burrowed, pyritic, shelly/skeletal claystone and lithified, shelly/skeletal wackestone

• Sequence C5 (from Holland and Patzkowsky, 1996)
• Massive, approximately 10-cm-thick, thick-bedded, massive claystone ("butter shales") with occasional pyritized burrows (Chondrites, subvertically-oriented with respect to the sediment layer). Claystones predominate section, with only 4 to 5, 1-cm-thick wackestone/packstone beds for every 50 cm of section.

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Preservation: cast, mold/impression, adpression, trace, recrystallized, coalified, original calcite, original chitin, original carbon, replaced with calcite, replaced with pyrite

Collection methods: bulk, mechanical,

• Bulk collection made in field and weighed, cleaned, prepped, and identified in lab at University of Cincinnati. Sample weighed 5.210 Kg. 103 specimens counted; 61 individuals estimated (using half of total disarticulated specimens with two parts plus number of articulated/intact specimens). Trepostome bryozoans and trilobite fragments were counted as estimated percent cover using standard percent cover reference chart.

Primary reference: P. M. Novack-Gottshall. 1999. Comparative geographic and environmental diversity dynamics of gastropods and bivalves during the Ordovician Radiation (M.S. thesis, University of Cincinnati). 1-191 [P. Novack-Gottshall/P. Novack-Gottshall/P. Novack-Gottshall]more details

Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis

PaleoDB collection 64225: authorized by Phil Novack-Gottshall, entered by Phil Novack-Gottshall on 04.09.2006

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Representative samples (standards) of species used for taxonomic identification reference are stored at the University of Cincinnati. Many unidentifiable bivalves are not included in taxonomic list.
Lingulata
 Lingulida - Pseudolingulidae
Pseudolingula sp. Mickwitz 1909
13 valves, disarticulated but some associated
Lophophorata
 Tentaculitida - Tentaculitidae
Stenolaemata
 Trepostomata - Halloporidae
Halloporidae indet. Bassler 1911
Large colony with specimen of Modiolopsis intact within
Gastropoda
 Murchisoniina - Eotomariidae
Liospira sp. Ulrich and Scofield 1897 snail
1 shell, possibly a juvenile
Bivalvia
 Myalinida - Ambonychiidae
Ambonychia sp. Hall 1847 clam
13 valves total
Anomalodonta ? gigantea Miller 1874 clam
1 external mold
Opisthoptera ? casei Meek and Worthen 1866 clam
1 external mold
 Ostreida - Pterineidae
"Caritodens demissa" = Pterinea demissa
"Caritodens demissa" = Pterinea demissa Conrad 1842 oyster
3 disarticulated valves, recrystallized
 Modiomorphida - Modiomorphidae
Modiolopsis modiolaris Conrad 1838 clam
26 external molds, some articulated and some disarticulated but associated, 1 specimen intact within large bryozoan colony
Modiolopsis ? concentrica Hall and Whitfield 1875 clam
1 external mold
Cymatonota recta Ulrich 1893 clam
3 external molds
Pholadomorpha pholadiformis Hall 1851 clam
1 external mold with carbonized traces of original periostracum
 Pholadomyida - Pholadomyidae
Rhytimya mickleboroughi clam
2 valves, external molds
 Actinodontida - Cycloconchidae
Cycloconcha milleri clam
4 external molds
 Unioni - Lyrodesmatidae
Lyrodesma major Ulrich 1879 clam
3 valves total, all composite molds
Trilobita
 Phacopida - Calymenidae
Calymenidae indet. Milne-Edwards 1840 trilobite
4 cephala
Flexicalymene meeki Foerste 1910 trilobite
7 cephala, 8 articulated bodies (lacking cephala or pygidia), 9 pygidia
 Asaphida - Asaphidae
Isotelus gigas Dekay 1824 trilobite
1 cephalon
Isotelus maximus Locke 1838 trilobite
Fragments, 1 genal spine