Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-02T02:28:51.175Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Paleoecology of an Upper Ordovician submarine cave-dwelling bryozoan fauna and its exposed equivalents in northern Kentucky, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 April 2018

Caroline J. Buttler  and
Mark A. Wilson
Caroline J. Buttler
Affiliation:
Department of Natural Sciences, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NP, Wales, UK 〈Caroline.Buttler@museumwales.ac.uk〉
Mark A. Wilson
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, The College of Wooster, Ohio 44691, USA 〈mwilson@wooster.edu〉
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A bryozoan-dominated fauna that inhabited small caves underneath a carbonate hardground is here described from the Corryville Formation (Upper Ordovician, Katian) exposed near Washington, Mason County, Kentucky, USA. The dominant bryozoan, Stigmatella personata (a trepostome), is found both growing downwards from the cave ceilings and upwards on the exposed hardground surface above. Another trepostome, Monticulipora, is a minor component of the cave fauna. There are few discernible anatomical differences between the bryozoan colonies that grew upwards in presumably well-lit waters and those that grew downwards in the gloomy caves. The pendant, cave-dwelling S. personata in some cases appears to have longer zooecial tubes than its exposed equivalent. The colonies of S. personata are rounded mounds with multiple layers formed by self-overgrowth. The overgrowths in both downward and upward growing forms are marked by thin layers of sediment infilling the upper zooecial chambers in the older portion of the colony. We suggest that biofilms developed on patches of the colony where the zooids had died. Sediment adhered to these surfaces and the colony then overgrew the patches, trapping sediment within the skeleton. The bryozoan zoaria and the carbonate hardground are extensively bored by the cylindrical ichnogenus Trypanites that occasionally contain cylindrical calcite-filled tubes similar to “ghosts” of organic materials. Bioclaustrations are present in some of the bryozoan skeletons. This cave fauna is one of few submarine examples known from the Paleozoic. It supports the hypothesis that early cave-dwelling organisms were little differentiated from their exposed counterparts.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 92 , Issue 4 , July 2018 , pp. 568 - 576
Copyright
Copyright © 2018, 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

Boardman, R.S., 1999, Indications of polypides in feeding zooids and polymorphs in Lower Paleozoic Trepostomata (Bryozoa): Journal of Paleontology, v. 73, p. 803–815.Google Scholar
Boardman, R.S., and Cheetham, A.H., 1983, Glossary of morphologic terms, in Robison, R.A., ed., Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Pt. G, Bryozoa, Revised: Boulder, Colorado and Lawrence, Kansas, Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, p. G304–G320.Google Scholar
Borg, F., 1926, Studies on Recent cyclostomatous Bryozoa: Zoologiska Bidrag från Uppsala, v. 10, p. 181–507.Google Scholar
Buatois, L.A., Mángano, M.G., Olea, R.A., and Wilson, M.A., 2016, Decoupled evolution of soft and hard substrate communities during the Cambrian Explosion and Ordovician Biodiversification Event: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, v. 113, p. 6945–6948.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cuffey, R.J., 1998, The Maysville bryozoan reef mounds in the Grant Lake Limestone (Upper Ordovician) of north-central Kentucky, in Davis, A., and Cuffey, R.J., eds.., Sampling the layer cake that isn’t: the stratigraphy and paleontology of the type-Cincinnatian: Ohio Department of Natural Resources Guidebook v. 13, p. 38–44.Google Scholar
Cummings, E.R, and Galloway, J.J., 1915, Studies of the morphology and histology of the Trepostomata or Monticuliporids: Proceedings of the Paleontological Society, v. 26, p. 349–374.Google Scholar
Dick, M.W., 1984, Bryozoan behavior in relation to autocleaning in Holoporella brunnea (Hincks): Northwest Science, v. 58, p. 195–207.Google Scholar
Dyer, W.S., 1925, The stratigraphy and paleontology of Toronto and vicinity. Part V. The paleontology of the Credit River section: Report of Ontario Department of Mines, v. 32, p. 47–88.Google Scholar
Ehrenberg, C.G., 1831, Symbolae Physicae, seu Icones et descptiones Corporum Naturalium novorum aut minus cognitorum, quae ex itineribus per Libyam, Aegiptum, Nubiam, Dongalaam, Syriam, Arabiam et Habessiniam, studia annis 1820–25, redirent. – Pars Zoologica, 4, Animalia Evertebrata exclusis Insectis: Berolini, Mittler, 10 pls.Google Scholar
Ernst, A., Taylor, P.D., and Bohatý, J., 2014, A new Middle Devonian cystoporate bryozoan from Germany containing a new symbiont bioclaustration: Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, v. 59, p. 173–183.Google Scholar
Fritz, M.A., 1973, Redescription of type specimens of bryozoan Stigmatella from the Upper Ordovician of the Toronto Region, Ontario: Life Sciences Contribution, Royal Ontario: Museum, v. 87, p. 1–31.Google Scholar
Gerdes, G., Kaselowsky, J., Lauer, A., Mawatari, S.F., and Scholz, J., 2005, Taxonomic composition and structure of bryozoan-associated biofilms from Japan and New Zealand, in Moyano G.H.I., Cancino, J.M., and Wyse Jackson, P.N., eds., Bryozoan Studies 2004: London, A.A. Balkema Publishers, p. 69–82.Google Scholar
Harmelin, J.-G., 1986, Patterns in the distribution of bryozoans in the Mediterranean marine caves: Stygologia, v. 2, p. 10–25.Google Scholar
Harmelin, J.-G., 1997, Diversity of bryozoans in a Mediterranean sublittoral cave with bathyal-like conditions: role of dispersal processes and local factors: Marine Ecology Progress Series, v. 153, p. 139–152.Google Scholar
Harmelin, J.-G., 2000, Ecology of cave and cavity dwelling bryozoans, in Herrera Cubilla, A., and Jackson, J.B.C., eds., Proceedings of the 11th International Bryozoology Association Conference: Balboa, Republic of Panama, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, p. 38–55.Google Scholar
Hayward, P.J., and Ryland, J.S., 1985, Cyclostome bryozoans: keys and notes for the identification of the species: Synopses of the British fauna (New series), v. 34, p. 147. [London, Published for the Linnean Society of London and the Estuarine and Brackish-Water Sciences Association by E.J. Brill/W. Backhuys].Google Scholar
Holland, S.M., 1993, Sequence stratigraphy of a carbonate-clastic ramp: the Cincinnatian Series (Upper Ordovician) in its type area: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 105, p. 306–322.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holland, S.M., and Patzkowsky, M.E., 2007, Gradient ecology of a biotic invasion: biofacies of the type Cincinnatian Series (Upper Ordovician), Cincinnati, Ohio region, USA: Palaios, v. 22, p. 392–407.Google Scholar
Key, M.M. Jr., Wyse Jackson, P.N., Miller, K.E., and Patterson, W.P., 2008, A stable isotope test for the origin of fossil brown bodies in trepostome bryozoans from the Ordovician of Estonia, in Hageman, S.J., Key, M.M., Jr, and Winston, J.E., eds., Bryozoan Studies 2007: Martinsville, Virginia, Virginia Museum of Natural History Special Publication no. 15, p. 75–84.Google Scholar
Kobluk, D.R., 1981, The record of cavity-dwelling (coelobiontic) organisms in the Paleozoic: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 18, p. 181–190.Google Scholar
Lev, S.M., Key, M.M. Jr., and Lighthart., A., 1993, A paleobiologic test for diastems using the internal stratigraphy of trepostome bryozoans: Journal of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science, v. 67, p. 32–37.Google Scholar
Lidgard, S., 1981, Water flow, feeding, and colony form in an encrusting cheilostome, in Larwood, G.P., and Nielsen, C., eds., Recent and Fossil Bryozoa: Fredensborg, Denmark, Olsen and Olsen, p. 135–142.Google Scholar
Lidgard, S., 2008, Predation on marine bryozoan colonies: taxa, traits and trophic groups: Marine Ecology Progress Series, v. 359, p. 117–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ma, J.-Y., Buttler, C.J., and Taylor, P.D., 2014, Cladistic analysis of the ‘trepostome’ Suborder Esthonioporina and the systematics of Palaeozoic bryozoans: Studi Trentini di Scienze Naturali, v. 94, p. 153–161.Google Scholar
Mägdefrau, K., 1932, Über einige Bohrgänge aus dem Unteren Muschelkalk von Jena: Paläontologische Zeitschrift, v. 14, p. 150–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKinney, F.K., 2009, Bryozoan-hydroid symbiosis and a new ichnogenus: Caupokeras: Ichnos, v. 16, p. 193–201.Google Scholar
Palmer, T.J., 1982, Cambrian to Cretaceous changes in hardground communities: Lethaia, v. 15, p. 309–323.Google Scholar
Palmer, T.J., and Fürsich, F.T., 1974, The ecology of a Middle Jurassic hardground and crevice fauna: Palaeontology, v. 17, p. 507–524.Google Scholar
Palmer, T.J., and Wilson, M.A., 1988, Parasitism of Ordovician bryozoans and the origin of pseudoborings: Palaeontology, v. 31, p. 939–949.Google Scholar
Palmer, T.J., and Wilson, M.A., 1990, Growth of ferruginous oncoliths in the Bajocian (Middle Jurassic) of Europe: Terra Nova, v. 2, p. 142–147.Google Scholar
Patzkowsky, M.E., and Holland, S.M., 1996, Extinction, invasion, and sequence stratigraphy: patterns of faunal change in the Middle and Upper Ordovician of the eastern United States, in Witzke, B.J., Ludvigsen, G.A., and Day, J.E., eds., Paleozoic Sequence Stratigraphy: Views from the North American Craton: Geological Society of America Special Paper, Boulder, Colorado, v. 306, p. 131–142.Google Scholar
Rosso, A., Sanfilippo, R., Taddei Ruggiero, E., and Di Martino, E., 2013, Faunas and ecological groups of Serpuloidea, Bryozoa and Brachiopoda from submarine caves in Sicily (Mediterranean Sea): Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana, v. 52, p. 167–176.Google Scholar
Rosso, A., Sanfilippo, R., Ruggieri, R., Maniscalco, R., and Vertino, A., 2015, Exceptional record of submarine cave communities from the Pleistocene of Sicily (Italy): Lethaia, v. 48, p. 133–144.Google Scholar
Suárez Andrés, J.L., 2014, Bioclaustration in Devonian fenestrate bryozoans. The ichnogenus Caupokeras McKinney, 2009: Spanish Journal of Palaeontology, v. 29, p. 5–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tapanila, L., 2005, Palaeoecology and diversity of endosymbionts in Palaeozoic marine invertebrates: trace fossil evidence: Lethaia, v. 38, p. 89–99.Google Scholar
Taylor, P.D., 1990, Preservation of soft-bodied and other organisms by bioimmuration—a review: Palaeontology, v. 33, p. 1–17.Google Scholar
Taylor, P.D., and Palmer, T.J., 1994, Submarine caves in a Jurassic reef (La Rochelle, France) and the evolution of cave biotas: Naturwissenschaften, v. 81, p. 357–360.Google Scholar
Taylor, P.D., and Wilson, M.A., 2003, Palaeoecology and evolution of marine hard substrate communities: Earth-Science Reviews, v. 62, p. 1–103.Google Scholar
Ulrich, E.O., 1882, American Palaeozoic Bryozoa: The Journal of the Cincinnati Society of Natural History, v. 5, p. 121–175, 233–257.Google Scholar
Ulrich, E.O., 1890, Part II. Palaeontology of Illinois. Section VI. Palæozoic Bryozoa: Report of the Geological Survey of Illinois, v. 8, p. 283–688.Google Scholar
Ulrich, E.O., and Bassler, R.S., 1904, A revision of Paleozoic Bryozoa Part II: Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, v. 47, p. 15–55.Google Scholar
Utgaard, J., and Perry, T.G., 1964, Trepostomatous bryozoan fauna of the upper part of the Whitewater Formation (Cincinnatian) of eastern Indiana and western Ohio: Indiana Geological Survey Bulletin, v. 33, p. 1–111.Google Scholar
Vinn, O., Wilson, M.A., Mõtus, M.-A., and Toom, U., 2014, The earliest bryozoan parasite: Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) of Osmussaar Island, Estonia: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 414, p. 129–132.Google Scholar
Vogel, K., and Brett, C.E., 2009, Record of microendoliths in different facies of the Upper Ordovician in the Cincinnati Arch region USA: the early history of light-related microendolithic zonation: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 281, p. 1–24.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.A., 1998, Succession in a Jurassic marine cavity community and the evolution of cryptic marine faunas: Geology, v. 26, p. 379–381.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.A., and Palmer, T.J., 1992, Hardgrounds and hardground faunas: University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Institute of Earth Studies Publications, v. 9, p. 1–131.Google Scholar
Wilson, M.A., and Palmer, T.J., 2006, Patterns and processes in the Ordovician bioerosion revolution: Ichnos, v. 13, p. 109–112.Google Scholar
Wyse Jackson, P.N., and Key, M.M. Jr., 2007, Borings in trepostome bryozoans from the Ordovician of Estonia: two ichnogenera produced by a single maker, a case of host morphology control: Lethaia, v. 40, p. 237–252.Google Scholar