The cephalopods of the Boda Limestone, Late Ordovician, of Dalarna, Sweden
Author
Kröger, Björn
text
European Journal of Taxonomy
2013
2013-03-27
41
1
110
journal article
http://dx.doi.org/10.5852/ejt.2013.41
386010a0-6da4-4fa3-9d1a-4b3b5427cac5
2118-9773
3814221
A2F1B9ED-870A-466E-B35E-BD5DA782476E
Genus
Redpathoceras
Flower, 1963
Type
species
Redpathoceras clarki
Flower, 1963
, northeast of Joliette,
Quebec
,
Canada
; Leray Limestone, early-mid Katian, Ordovician; by original designation.
Diagnosis
Gyrocones with circular to depressed mature conch cross section; mature body chamber inflated with greatest diameter at approximate mid-length; broad shallow hyponomic sinus; septum of truncation deeply rounded; suture of septa in mature specimen slightly oblique, sloping in adoral direction on concave side of conch curvature; siphuncle eccentric, close to conch margin at convex side of conch curvature. (Adopted from
Flower 1963
.)
Remarks
Redpathoceras
was assigned to the
Probillingsitidae
by
Flower (1963)
because of its deeply rounded septum of truncation and its inflated mature body chamber. The
type
species,
Redpathoceras clarki
, is characterized by a mature shell with only two chambers adoral of the terminal truncation; this is similar to
Probillingsites
. Some specimens of
Redpathoceras
from the Boda Limestone have mature truncated shells with five chambers (
Redpathoceras magnus
sp. nov.
); this is very similar to
Montyoceras
Flower, 1941
, and supports
Flower’s (1963)
hypothesis of an ancestry of
Billingsites
and other ascocerids from a
Montyoceras
-like form. (The truncated parts of premature
Redpathoceras
phragmocones consist of ca. seven to eight chambers.)
On the other hand, the strongly curved conch portions of
Redpathoceras
are very similar to some uranoceratids, such as
Deckeroceras
Foerste, 1935
,
Siljanoceras
gen. nov.
and
Warburgoceras
gen. nov.
, from which it mainly differs in having a deeply convex septum of truncation. This suggests a relationship of
Uranoceratidae
with ascocerids (see discussion below).
The shape of the septal necks and connecting ring of the species of
Redpathoceras
known from the Boda Limestone are similar to those of
Probillingsites
(compare with
Furnish & Glenister 1964a
: fig. 189.4;
Fig. 40
A-C). The connecting ring is slightly expanded in juvenile chambers and nummoidal and strongly expanded in the latest chambers. The septal necks are suborthochoanitic in juvenile stages and distally thickened and achoanitic in the latest stages.
Stratigraphic and geographic range
Leray Limestone, early-mid Katian,
Quebec
,
Canada
; Boda Limestone, late Katian,
Dalarna
,
Sweden
.