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Heliolitine corals of the topmost Douro and overlying formations (Upper Silurian), Canadian Arctic islands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Owen A. Dixon
Owen A. Dixon*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Ottawa and Ottawa-Carleton Geoscience Centre, Ottawa K1N 6N5, Canada
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Abstract

Heliolitine corals occur in Upper Silurian strata of the topmost Douro, lower Barlow Inlet, and lower Somerset Island formations in the Boothia Uplift region. The fauna includes Heliolites (nine species), Propora (two species), the stelliporellid genera Podollites (three species) and Stelliporella (one species), and the plasmoporid Squameolites (one species). Species present but not previously reported from the region include Heliolites arcuatus Bondarenko, Heliolites uksunayensis Mironova, Stelliporella ilensis Bondarenko, Podollites assitus new species, Podollites parryi new species, Podollites plectilis new species, Propora tubulata (Lonsdale) and an unidentified species of Propora. All species occur in reef and reef-associated facies of open carbonate shelf and ramp settings. In restricted nonreefal carbonate shelf settings, diversity attenuates to a minimum, exemplified by numerically abundant monospecific assemblages of Heliolites uksunayensis. Six of the 16 morphotaxonomic units recognized compare with species reported previously in Silurian faunas of Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Combinations of characters in the species attributed to Podollites support revision of the genus, possibly to include Derivatolites and Tarbagatailites, in a group morphologically intermediate between Stelliporella and Heliolites.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 72 , Issue 6 , November 1998 , pp. 937 - 966
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Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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