Mount Whyte Formation, Early Middle Cambrian, eastern Main Ranges, southern Canadian Rocky Mountains, Alberta and B. C., Plagiura-Kochaspis Biozone (Fieldaspis bilobata faunule (of Rasetti, 1951))
Trilobite List:
Note that in this case, the list is in alphabetical order of species names, rather than genera. We have done this here, as many of the species are still in doubt to their generic status. This is because many of the species are from an unpublished thesis (Tremblay, 1996) and their status is uncertain. The current (published) generic status of each of the species is listed first.
Tremblay (1996) has many changes in his thesis which may or may not be agreed upon until published. For example, he synonymized Amecephalus with Alokistocare. He included all of the following genera in Antagmus: Poulsenia, Onchocephalus, Piazella, Eoptychoparia, Parapoulsenia, Spencella, Nyella, and Illtydaspis. This is almost certainly not agreed upon by trilobite workers in the Cambrian.
Trilobites:
Amecephalus agnesensis (Walcott, 1912 – or is it 1917?) (changed to Alokistocare agnesensis (Rasetti, 1951) in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis) (should be called Amecephalus agnesensis until published) – not sure on the generic status of this species.
Poliella anteros Walcott, 1916 (type reported from Mt. Whyte Fm.)
Fieldaspis bilobata Rasetti, 1951 (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003)
Antagmus cf. buttsi (Resser, 1938) (reported in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis)
Hadrocephalites carina (Walcott, 1917) (see Sundberg and McCollum, 2002)
Hadrocephalites cecinna (Walcott, 1917b) (see Sundberg and McCollum, 2002) [old name Kochaspis cecinna (Walcott, 1917)] – is Kochaspis eiffelensis Rasetii, 1951 synonymous with this? – Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis stated that it was]
Fieldaspis celer (Walcott, 1917) (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003)
[Crepicephalus celer Walcott, 1917 – old name for the Fieldaspis celer, the type for Fieldaspis]
Plagiura cercops Walcott, 1917 (reported in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis)
Alokistocare cleora (Walcott, 1917) [old name Amecephalus cleora] (see Tremblay, 1996, unpubl. thesis; and Fletcher & Collins, 2003)
Schistometopus collaris Rasetti, 1951 (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003) (species not reported in Tremblay, 1996, unpubl. thesis)
Syspacephalus crassus Rasetti, 1951 (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003) (reported only from the Naiset Fm. in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis)
Kochiella crito (Walcott, 1917b) (see Sundberg and McCollum, 2002) (species not reported in Tremblay, 1996, unpubl. thesis)
Onchocephalus depressus Rasetti, 1951 (changed to Antagmus depressus (Rasetti, 1951) in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis) (should be called O. depressus until published)
Kochaspis eiffelensis Rasetti, 1951 (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003) (is synonomized with Kochaspis cecinna (Walcott, 1917) (in Tremblay, 1996, unpubl. thesis. Should be called K. eiffelensis Rasetti, 1951 until published)
Onchocephalus fieldensis Rasetti, 1951 (changed to Antagmus fieldensis (Rasetti, 1951) in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis) (should be called O. fieldensis until published)
Fieldaspis furcata Rasetti, 1951 (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003) (species not reported in Tremblay, 1996, unpubl. thesis)
Kochiella? gibbosa Rasetti, 1957 (changed to Antagmus? gibbosa (Rasetti, 1951) in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis) (should be called K.? gibbosa until published)
Onchocephalites laevis Rasetti, 1957 (reported in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis)
Onchocephalus maior Rasetti, 1951 (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003) – probably Eokochaspis (see Sundberg and McCollum, 2000) (changed to Antagmus maior (Rasetti, 1951) in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis) (should be called O. maior until published)
Kochiella maxeyi Rasetti, 1951 (see Sundberg and McCollum, 2002) [old name Kochiella? maxeyi; called Alokistocare? maxeyi in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis)
Schistometopus minor Rasetti, 1957 (changed to Solenopleurella minor (Rasetti, 1957) in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis) (should be called S. minor until published)
Poliella prima (Walcott, 1908) (reported in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis)
Loxopeltis aff. L. problematica Rasetti, 1957 (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003) (species not reported in Tremblay, 1996, unpubl. thesis)
Caborcella rara Rasetti, 1951 (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003) (species not reported in Tremblay, 1996, unpubl. thesis)
Oryctocephalites resseri Rasetti, 1951 (species not reported in Tremblay, 1996, unpubl. thesis)
Wenkcheminia spinicollus Rasetti, 1951 (species not reported in Tremblay, 1996, unpubl. thesis)
Wenkcheminia sulcata Rasetti, 1951 (synonomized with Wenkcheminia walcotti Rasetti, 1951 in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis) (should be called W. sulcata Rasetti, 1951 until published) (Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis reported this species only from the Naiset Fm.)
Wenkcheminia walcotti Rasetti, 1951 (Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis reported this species only from the Naiset Fm.) (Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis reported this species only from the Naiset Fm.)
Antagmus sp. (reported in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis)
Antagmus? sp. (reported in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis)
Kochiella sp. (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003) (species not reported in Tremblay, 1996, unpubl. thesis)
?Kochina sp. (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003) (species not reported in Tremblay, 1996, unpubl. thesis)
Olenellus sp. 3 (from Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis)
Trilobites:
-alphabetical according to genus
Alokistocare cleora (Walcott, 1917)
Amecephalus agnesensis (Walcott, 1912 – or is it 1917?)
Antagmus cf. buttsi (Resser, 1938)
Antagmus sp. (reported in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis)
Antagmus? sp. (reported in Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis)
Caborcella rara Rasetti, 1951
Fieldaspis bilobata Rasetti, 1951
Fieldaspis celer (Walcott, 1917) (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003)
Fieldaspis furcata Rasetti, 1951
Hadrocephalites carina (Walcott, 1917)
Hadrocephalites cecinna (Walcott, 1917b)
Kochaspis eiffelensis Rasetti, 1951
Kochiella crito (Walcott, 1917b)
Kochiella? gibbosa Rasetti, 1957
Kochiella maxeyi Rasetti, 1951
Kochiella sp. (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003)
?Kochina sp. (see Fletcher & Collins, 2003)
Loxopeltis aff. L. problematica Rasetti, 1957
Olenellus sp. 3 (from Tremblay, 1996 unpubl. thesis)
Onchocephalus depressus Rasetti, 1951
Onchocephalus fieldensis Rasetti, 1951
Onchocephalites laevis Rasetti, 1957
Onchocephalus maior Rasetti, 1951
Oryctocephalites resseri Rasetti, 1951
Plagiura cercops Walcott, 1917
Poliella anteros Walcott, 1916
Poliella prima (Walcott, 1908)
Schistometopus collaris Rasetti, 1951
Syspacephalus crassus Rasetti, 1951
Schistometopus minor Rasetti, 1957
Wenkcheminia spinicollus Rasetti, 1951
Wenkcheminia sulcata Rasetti, 1951
Wenkcheminia walcotti Rasetti, 1951
Comments:
The Mount. Whyte Formation is underlain by the Peyto Formation and overlain by the Cathedral Formation. It is mostly lower Middle Cambrian in age (although the lowest part may include part of the uppermost Lower Cambrian). The Mt. Whyte (subtidal to shelf facies) is correlative with the Naiset Formation (deeper water slope facies). The Mt. Whyte likely includes the entire Plagiura-Poliella Zone (Plagiura-Kochaspis zone and Wenkchemnia-Stephenaspis Zone). Tremblay, 1996 introduced a new zonation and biofacies concept for the Peyto, Mount. Whyte, and Naiset Formations, although this is not published.
Since the Mt. Whyte Formation is mainly exposed in Canada’s mountain parks, collecting is forbidden without a scientific permit. The exposures in the eastern Main Ranges of the Rockies are within Jasper, Banff, Yoho, and Kootenay National Parks.
References:
Fletcher, T. P. & Collins, D. H. (2003) The Burgess Shale and associated Cambrian formations west of the Fossil Gully Fault Zone on Mount Stephen, British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 40: 1823-1838.
Rasetti, F. (1951) Middle Cambrian stratigraphy and faunas of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Volume 116, No. 5, 277 pp.
Sundberg, F.A., and McCollum, L. B., (2002), Kochiella Poulsen, 1927, and Hadrocephalites new genus (Trilobita: Ptychopariida) from the early Middle Cambrian of western North America. Journal of Paleontology, v. 76, p. 76-94.
Sundberg,
F.A., and McCollum, L. B. 2000,
Ptychopariid trilobites from the Lower-Middle Cambrian boundary interval, Pioche
Shale, southeastern
Tremblay, J. V. (1996) Trilobites and Strata of the Lower and Middle Cambrian Peyto, Mount Whyte and Naiset Formatiopns, Alberta and British Columbia. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.
Western
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