Delta (Carboniferous of the United States)

Where: Keokuk County, Iowa (41.3° N, 92.3° W: paleocoordinates 10.8° S, 34.4° W)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Waugh Member (St. Louis Formation), Asbian (340.0 - 336.0 Ma)

• St. Louis Formation in Iowa may correlate not with the St. Louis Formation in its type section, but with the Genevieve Formation in Missouri and Illinois

• member-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: sinkhole

• general environment is "primarily lacustrine, fresh-water to brackish, with possible intermittent incursion of marine waters" but fossils are from "fills within two adjacent collapse structures"
• unclear: collapse structures are within a limestone quarry, but the Waugh Member elsewhere includes "sandstones, shales, and lime mudstones"

Size class: macrofossils

Reposited in the FMNH

• "Over 600 tetrapod specimens were recovered... along with several hundred fish and some invertebrate and plant fossils"

Primary reference: R. E. Lombard and J. R. Bolt. 1995. A new primitive tetrapod, Whatcheeria deltae, from the Lower Carboniferous of Iowa. Palaeontology 38(3):471-494 [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: taxonomic analysis

PaleoDB collection 68318: authorized by John Alroy, entered by John Alroy on 15.01.2007, edited by Emma Dunne

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• definitely not the same as the paleobotanical What Cheer locality (collection 13999)
Show authors, comments, and common names
Chondrichthyes
 Elasmobranchii -
Elasmobranchii indet.
Elasmobranchii indet. Bonaparte 1838 elasmobranch
"elasmobranchs"
  -
Cynopodius sp.
Cynopodius sp. Traquair 1881 chimaera
Acanthodii
  -
Acanthodii indet.
Acanthodii indet. spiny fish
"acanthodians"
Osteichthyes
 Palaeonisciformes -
Palaeoniscoidei indet.
Palaeoniscoidei indet.
"palaeoniscoids"
 Ctenodontiformes - Ctenodontidae
Tranodis sp.
Tranodis sp. Thomson 1965 lungfish
 Rhizodontida -
Rhizodontida indet.
Rhizodontida indet. lobe-finned fish
"rhizodontid"
 Tetrapoda -
Embolomeri indet., Sigournea multidentata n. gen. n. sp.1
Embolomeri indet. tetrapod
"embolomere"
Sigournea multidentata n. gen. n. sp.1 Bolt and Lombard 2006 tetrapod
FMNH PR 1820 mandible
 Tetrapoda - Colosteidae
Colosteidae indet., Deltaherpeton hiemstrae n. gen. n. sp.2
Colosteidae indet. Cope 1875 tetrapod
"colosteid": see also Bolt and Lombard 2001
Deltaherpeton hiemstrae n. gen. n. sp.2 Bolt and Lombard 2010 tetrapod
FMNH PR 1637 skull in association with mandibles
 Tetrapoda - Whatcheeriidae
Whatcheeria deltae n. gen. n. sp.
Whatcheeria deltae n. gen. n. sp. Lombard and Bolt 1995 tetrapod
Gnathostomata
 Crossopterygii - Osteolepidae
Osteolepidae indet.
Osteolepidae indet.
"osteolepid"
1Bolt and Lombard 2006; 2Bolt and Lombard 2010