A new species of the Lower Ordovician pliomerid trilobite Pseudocybele and its biostratigraphic significance
Author
Mcadams, Neo E. B.
Author
Adrain, Jonathan M.
text
Zootaxa
2010
2550
21
38
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.196803
aabf260c-9744-4c7e-a2f3-5acf08707db2
1175-5326
196803
Pseudocybele
Ross, 1951
Type
species.
Pseudocybele nasuta
Ross, 1951
.
Other species.
Pseudocybele altinasuta
Hintze, 1953
;
P. paranasuta
n. sp.
Discussion.
Members of
Pseudocybele
are common as disarticulated silicified sclerites at many horizons throughout the Blackhillsian in the Great Basin. At Ibex, species ranges extend through the upper part of Section H (from H
191.7 m
[Hintze's (1953) H-20/ 434'] upwards) and the lower part of Section J. Ross's (1951) Clarkston Mountain and Round Hill localities in northern Utah, and Hintze's (1953) Yellow Hill locality in eastern Nevada also yield species of
Pseudocybele
.
Dean (1989)
assigned several crack-out specimens from the Canadian Rocky Mountains to
Pseudocybele nasuta
. However, their poor state of preservation likely precludes identification to species level.
Pseudocybele nasuta
Ross, 1951
, is difficult to interpret pending new collections from the
type
locality. Ross's specimens are small and were figured at low magnification without a full complement of views. The largest cranidium figured in dorsal view (
Ross, 1951, pl. 33, figs 1, 2, 5
), which is fragmentary, is
2.75 mm
long, whereas typical large cranidia of
P. paranasuta
figured herein are around
4 mm
long. Ross's
holotype
cranidium of
P. nasuta
is about half the size (length
2 mm
) of the
holotype
of
P. paranasuta
. Most are likely immature, and Ross reported (1951, p. 139) that he found only immature silicified pygidia. Although we have found many species of
Pseudocybele
in our samples, we have not yet resampled the Clarkston Mountain
type
locality, and it is difficult in the present state of knowledge to determine which species from other localities (if any) truly represent
P. n a s u t a
. Further complicating matters,
Ross (1951, p. 140)
reported
P. nasuta
from a
35 foot
(
10.7 m
) interval at Clarkston Mountain, and from a
30 foot
(
9.1 m
) interval at Round Hill. He did not specify a footage for any of his figured specimens. We have resampled Round Hill, and two species of
Pseudocybele
, one of which may be
P. n a s u t a
, co-occur at several horizons there. This suggests that Ross's material from Clarkston Mountain may also contain more than one species, and that the figured material of
P. nasuta
must be interpreted with caution. Comparison below is therefore made with reference only to Ross's figured specimens from the
type
locality, but more material from Clarkston Mountain will be required before
P. nasuta
may be interpreted with confidence.
All specimens of
Pseudocybele
reported to date have been assigned to either
Pseudocybele nasuta
Ross
,
P. altinasuta
Hintze
, or
P. lemurei
Hintze, 1953
. Our new data indicate that the species diversity of
Pseudocybele
has been substantially underestimated, as multiple new species occur in the sections. Some new species have been misidentified in the past, and some occur in previously unsampled faunas. Further,
"
Pseudocybele
"
lemurei
has been reassigned to the new genus
Lemureops
McAdams and Adrain, 2009a
, which is the probable sister taxon of
Pseudocybele
. Full revision of
Pseudocybele
and phylogenetic analysis of its broader relationships is beyond the scope of this paper, but will be dealt with in a future publication.