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Remarkable preservation of shell microstructures from the Late Ordovician of the Cincinnati Arch region, USA, and the success of nacre among Ordovician mollusks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2019

Michael J. Vendrasco
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Pasadena City College, 1570 East Colorado Blvd., E-215, Pasadena, California, 91106, USA Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad de Granada, Granada 18071, España
Antonio G. Checa
Affiliation:
Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad de Granada, Granada 18071, España
William P. Heimbrock
Affiliation:
Dry Dredgers, 1621 Westwood Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45214, USA

Abstract

Exceptional sub-micrometer details of shell microstructure are preserved in phosphatic micro-steinkerns representing several phyla from shell beds of the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati Arch region, USA. These fossils provide the most detailed record of Ordovician mollusk shell microstructures, as well as exceptional details on the earliest cases of undisputed nacre. The trend towards nacre in the Mollusca is one aspect of the surge in escalation between mollusks and their predators during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2019, The Paleontological Society 

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