Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-r5d9c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-09-03T00:48:13.016Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Remarkable preservation of shell microstructures from the Late Ordovician of the Cincinnati Arch region, USA, and the success of nacre among Ordovician mollusks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2019

Michael J. Vendrasco ,
Antonio G. Checa  and
William P. Heimbrock
Michael J. Vendrasco
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Pasadena City College, 1570 East Colorado Blvd., E-215, Pasadena, California, 91106, USA Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad de Granada, Granada 18071, España
Antonio G. Checa
Affiliation:
Departamento de Estratigrafía y Paleontología, Universidad de Granada, Granada 18071, España
William P. Heimbrock
Affiliation:
Dry Dredgers, 1621 Westwood Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45214, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Exceptional sub-micrometer details of shell microstructure are preserved in phosphatic micro-steinkerns representing several phyla from shell beds of the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati Arch region, USA. These fossils provide the most detailed record of Ordovician mollusk shell microstructures, as well as exceptional details on the earliest cases of undisputed nacre. The trend towards nacre in the Mollusca is one aspect of the surge in escalation between mollusks and their predators during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 93 , Issue 4 , July 2019 , pp. 658 - 672
Copyright
Copyright © 2019, 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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Algeo, T.J., and Brett, C.E., 1999, Sequence, Cycle, and Event Stratigraphy of Upper Ordovician and Silurian Strata of the Cincinnati Arch Region: Lexington, Kentucky, USA, Kentucky Geological Survey, 152 p.Google Scholar
Balthasar, U., Cusack, M., Faryma, L., Chung, P., Holmer, L.E., Jin, J., Percival, I.G., and Popov, L.E., 2011, Relic aragonite from Ordovician–Silurian brachiopods: implications for the evolution of calcification: Geology, v. 39, p. 967–970.Google Scholar
Barrande, J., 1881, Système Silurien de Centre de la Bohême: Reserches Paléontologiques, v. 6, 342 p.Google Scholar
Batten, R.L., 1984, The calcitic wall in the Paleozoic families Euomphalidae and Platyceratidae (Archeogastropoda): Journal of Paleontology, v. 58, p. 1186–1192.Google Scholar
Billings, E., 1872, On some fossils from the primordial rocks of Newfoundland: Canadian Naturalist and Quarterly Journal of Science, new series, v. 6, p. 465–479.Google Scholar
Boardman, R.S., 1983, General features of the Class Stenolaemata, in Robison, R.A., ed., Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part G, Volume 1, Bryozoa Revised: Boulder, CO and Lawrence, KS, Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, p. G49–G137.Google Scholar
Carter, J.G., 1990, Glossary of skeletal biomineralization, in Carter, J.G., ed., Skeletal Biomineralization: Patterns, Processes, and Evolutionary Trends, Volume 1: New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, p. 609–671.Google Scholar
Carter, J.G., and Tevesz, M.J.S., 1978, Shell microstructure of a Middle Devonian (Hamilton Group) bivalve fauna from central New York: Journal of Paleontology, v. 52, p. 859–880.Google Scholar
Carter, J.G., Altaba, C.R., Anderson, L.C., Araujo, R., Biakov, A.S., Bogan, A.E., Campbell, D.C., Campbell, M., Jin-hua, C., Cope, J.C.W., Delvene, G., Dijkstra, H.H., Zong-jie, F., Gardner, R.N., Gavrilova, V.A., Goncharova, I.A., Harries, P.J., Hartman, J.H., Hautmann, M., Hoeh, W.R., Hylleberg, J., Bao-yu, J., Johnston, P., Kirkendale, L., Kleemann, K., Koppka, J., Kříž, J., Machado, D., Malchus, N., Márquez-Aliaga, A., Masse, J.-P., McRoberts, C.A., Middelfart, P.U., Mitchell, S., Nevesskaja, L.A., Özer, S., Pojeta, J. Jr., Polubotko, I.V., Pons, J.M., Popov, S., Sánchez, T., Sartori, A.F., Scott, R.W., Sey, I.I., Signorelli, J.H., Silantiev, V.V., Skelton, P.W., Steuber, T., Waterhouse, J.B., Wingard, G.L., and Yancey, T., 2011, A Synoptical Classification of the Bivalvia (Mollusca): University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions v. 4, 47 p.Google Scholar
Carter, J.G., Harries, P.J., Malchus, N., Sartori, A.F., Anderson, L.C., Bieler, R., Bogan, A.E., Coan, E.V., Cope, J.C.W., Cragg, S.M., García-March, J.R., Hylleberg, J., Kelley, P., Kleemann, K., Kříž, J., McRoberts, C., Mikkelsen, P.M., Jojeta, J. Jr., Skelton, P.W., Tëmkin, I., Yancey, T., and Zieritz, A., 2012, Treatise of Invertebrate Paleontology, Part N, Revised, Volume 1, Chapter 31: Illustrated Glossary of the Bivalvia, Treatise Online, Number 48, 209 p.Google Scholar
Checa, A.G., Ramírez-Rico, J., González-Segura, A., and Sánchez-Navas, A., 2009a, Nacre and false nacre (foliated aragonite) in extant monoplacophorans (=Tryblidiida: Mollusca): Die Naturwissenschaften, v. 96, p. 111–122.Google Scholar
Checa, A.G., Sánchez-Navas, A., and Rodríguez-Navarro, A., 2009b, Crystal Growth in the foliated aragonite of monoplacophorans (Mollusca): Crystal Growth & Design, v. 9, p. 4574–4580.Google Scholar
Conrad, T.A., 1838, Report on the palaeontological department of the survey: New York Geological Survey Annual Report, v. 2, p. 107–119.Google Scholar
Conrad, T.A., 1841, Fifth annual report on the palaeontology of the State of New York: New York Geological Survey Annual Report, v. 5, p. 25–57.Google Scholar
Conrad, T.A., 1842, Observations on the Silurian and Devonian systems of the United States, with descriptions of new organic remains: Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, v. 8, p. 228–280.Google Scholar
Cope, J.C.W., 1997, The early phylogeny of the Class Bivalvia: Palaeontology, v. 40, p. 713–746.Google Scholar
Cruz, R., Weissmüller, G., and Farina, M., 2003, Microstructure of monoplacophora (mollusca) shell examined by low-voltage field emission scanning electron and atomic force microscopy: Scanning, v. 25, p. 12–18.Google Scholar
Currey, J.D., 1977, Mechanical properties of mother of pearl in tension: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, v. 196, p. 443–463.Google Scholar
Currey, J.D., Zioupos, P., Davies, P., and Casino, A., 2001, Mechanical properties of nacre and highly mineralized bone: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, v. 268, p. 107–111.Google Scholar
Dattilo, B.F., Freeman, R.L., Peters, W.S., Heimbrock, W.P., Deline, B., Martin, A.J., Kallmeyer, J. W., Reeder, J., and Argast, A., 2016, Giants among micromorphs: were Cincinnatian (Ordovician, Katian) small shelly phosphatic faunas dwarfed?: Palaios, v. 31, p. 55–70.Google Scholar
Drushchits, V.V., Doguzhayeva, L.A., and Korinevskiy, V.G., 1979, Shell microstructure of the Ordovician monoplacophoran Romaniella Doguzhaeva, 1972: Doklady, Earth Science Sections., v. 245, p. 232–234.Google Scholar
Dunker, W., 1872–1880, Die gattung Avicula in abbildungen nach der natur mit beschreibungen, in Küster, H.C., ed., Systematisches Conchylien–Cabinet von Martini und Chemnitz. V. 7, part 3: Nurnberg, Bauer und Raspe, p. 1–84.Google Scholar
Ebbestad, J.O.R., and Peel, J.S., 1997, Predation and shell repair in Middle and Upper Ordovician gastropods from Sweden: Journal of Paleontology, v. 71, p. 1007–1019.Google Scholar
Ebbestad, J.O.R., Lindstrom, A., and Peel, J.S., 2009, Predation on bellerophontiform molluscs in the Palaeozoic: Lethaia, v. 42, p. 469–485.Google Scholar
Erben, H.K., 1972, Über die Bildung und das Wachstum von Perlmutt (On the formation and growth of nace): Biomineralization Research Reports, v. 4, p. 15–46.Google Scholar
Erben, H.K., Flajs, G., and Siehl, A., 1968, Über die Schalenstruktur von Monoplacophoren: Abhandlungen der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Klasse Jahrgang, v. 1, p. 3–41.Google Scholar
Feng, W., and Sun, W., 2003, Phosphate replicated and replaced microstructure of molluscan shells from the earliest Cambrian of China: Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, v. 48, p. 21–30.Google Scholar
Flower, R.H., 1962, I. Revision of Buttsoceras. II. Notes on the Michelinoceratida: New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Memoir 10, 58 p.Google Scholar
Grabau, A.W., 1900, Palaeontology of the Cambrian terranes of the Boston Basin: Occasional Papers of the Boston Society of Natural History, v. 4, p. 601–694.Google Scholar
Hall, J., 1845, Description of some microscopic shells from the decomposing marl slate of Cincinnati: American Journal of Science and Arts, 1st Series, v. 48, p. 292–295.Google Scholar
Hall, J. 1847, Containing descriptions of the organic remains of the lower division of the New York system (equivalent of the Lower Silurian rocks of Europe): Paleontology of New York, v. 1, p. 1–338.Google Scholar
Hall, J. 1852, Containing descriptions of the organic remains of the lower middle division of the New York system: Paleontology of New York, v. 2, p. 1–362.Google Scholar
Hall, J., 1862, Observations upon a new genus of Brachiopoda: New York State Cabinet Annual Report, v. 15, p. 154–155.Google Scholar
Hedegaard, C., 1997, Shell Structures of the Recent Vetigastropoda: Journal of Molluscan Studies, v. 63, p. 369–377.Google Scholar
Iredale, T., 1924, Results from Roy Bell's molluscan collections: Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, v. 49, p. 179–278.Google Scholar
Jell, P.A., 1980, Earliest known pelecypod on Earth—a new Early Cambrian genus from Australia: Alcheringa, v. 4, p. 233–239.Google Scholar
Knight, J.B., Cox, L.R., Keen, A.M., Batten, R.L., Yochelson, E.L., and Robertson, R., 1960, Systematic descriptions, in Moore, R.C., ed., Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part I, Mollusca 1: Lawrence, KS and Boulder, CO, University of Kansas Press and Geological Society of America, p. I169–I331.Google Scholar
Lamarck, J.B.M., 1799, Prodrome d'une nouvelle classification des coquilles, comprenant une rédaction appropriée des caractères géneriques, et l'établissement d'un grand nombre de genres nouveaux: Mémoires de la Société d'Histoire Naturelle de Paris, v. 1., p. 63–91.Google Scholar
Linnaeus, C., 1758, Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata: Holmiae (Stockholm), Laurentius Salvius, 824 p.Google Scholar
MacClintock, C., 1967, Shell structure of patelloid and bellerophontoid gastropods (Mollusca): Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, v. 22, p. 1–140.Google Scholar
Martin, A.J., 1986, A paleoenvironmental interpretation of the “Arnheim” micromorph fossil assemblage from the Cincinnatian Series (Upper Ordovician), southeastern Indiana and southwestern Ohio, [M.Sc. thesis]: Oxford, Ohio, Miami University, 221 p.Google Scholar
Matthew, G.F., 1895, The Protolenus fauna: Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences, v. 14, p. 101–153.Google Scholar
Mutvei, H., 1970, Ultrastructure of the mineral and organic components of molluscan nacreous layers: Biomineralization Research Reports, v. 2, p. 48–72.Google Scholar
Mutvei, H., 1978, Ultrastructural characteristics of the nacre in some gastropods: Zoological Scripta, v. 7, p. 287–296.Google Scholar
Mutvei, H., 1983, Flexible nacre in the nautiloid Isorthoceras, with remarks on the evolution of cephalopod nacre: Lethaia, v. 16, p. 233–240.Google Scholar
Mutvei, H., 2002, Connecting ring structure and its significance for classification of the orthoceratid cephalopods: Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, v. 47, p. 157–168.Google Scholar
Pojeta, J. Jr., and Runnegar, B., 1976, The paleontology of rostroconch mollusks and the early history of the phylum Mollusca: United States Geological Survey Professional Paper, v. 968, 88 p.Google Scholar
Pojeta, J. Jr., Zhang, R.J., and Yang, Z.Y., 1986, Systematic paleontology of the Devonian pelecypods of Guangxi and Michigan, in Pojeta, J., ed., Devonian Rocks and Lower and Middle Devonian Pelecypods of Guangxi, China, and the Traverse Group of Michigan. United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 1394-A–G, Chapter G, p. 57–108.Google Scholar
Porter, S.M., 2004, Closing the phosphatization window: testing for the influence of taphonomic megabias on the pattern of small shelly fossil decline: Palaios, v. 19, p. 178–183.Google Scholar
Rasband, W.S., 1997–2018, ImageJ, U. S. National Institutes of Health, Bethseda, Maryland, USA, http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/.Google Scholar
Rowell, A.J., and Grant, R.E., 1987, Phylum Brachiopoda, in Boardman, R.S. Cheetham, A.H., and Rowell, A.J., eds., Fossil Invertebrates: Cambridge, MA, Blackwell Science, p. 445–496.Google Scholar
Rozanov, A.Y., Missarzhevsky, V.V., Volkova, N.A., Voronova, L.G., Krylov, I.N., Keller, B.M., Korolyuk, I.K., Lendzion, K., Mikhnyar, R., Pykhova, N.G., and Sidorov, A.D., 1969, Tommotskiy yarus i problema nizhney granitsy kembriya. [The Tommotian Stage and the problem of the lower boundary of the Cambrian]. Trudy Geologicheskogo Instituta AN SSSR , v. 206, p. 1–380.Google Scholar
Runnegar, B., 1981, Muscle scars, shell form and torsion in Cambrian and Ordovician univalved molluscs: Lethaia, v. 14, p. 311–322.Google Scholar
Runnegar, B., 1985, Shell microstructures of Cambrian molluscs replicated by phosphate: Alcheringa, v. 9, p. 245–257.Google Scholar
Runnegar, B. and Jell, P.A., 1976, Australian Middle Cambrian molluscs and their bearing on early molluscan evolution: Alcheringa, v. 1, p. 109–132.Google Scholar
Runnegar, B. and Pojeta, J. Jr., 1974, Molluscan phylogeny, the paleontological viewpoint: Science, v. 186, p. 311–317.Google Scholar
Runnegar, B., and Pojeta, J. Jr., 1985, Origin and diversification of the Mollusca, in Trueman, E.R., and Clarke, M.R., eds., The Mollusca, Volume 10: Orlando, Academic Press, Inc., p. 1–57.Google Scholar
Schuchert, C. and Cooper, G.A., 1931, Synopsis of the brachiopod genera of the suborders Orthoidea and Pentameroidea, with notes on the Telotremata: American Journal of Science, v. 22, p. 241–251.Google Scholar
Starobogatov, Y.I., and Moskalev, Y.I., 1987, Systematics on the Monoplacophora, in Starobogatov, Y. I., Golikov, A.N. and Likarev, I.M., eds., Molluscs, Results and Perspective of Investigation: Moscow, USSR Academy of Sciences, Zoological Institute, p. 7–11Google Scholar
Taylor, J.D., and Layman, M., 1972, The mechanical properties of bivalve (Mollusca) shell structure: Palaeontology, v. 15, p. 73–87.Google Scholar
Taylor, J.D., Kennedy, W.J., and Hall, A., 1969, The shell structure and mineralogy of the Bivalvia: introduction, Nuculacea–Trigonacea: Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History, Zoology, Supplement 3, 125 p.Google Scholar
Taylor, P.D., and Weedon, M.J., 2000, Skeletal ultrastructure and phylogeny of cyclostome bryozoans: Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, v. 128, p. 337–399.Google Scholar
Thompson, E.H., 1970, Morphology and taxonomy of Cyclonema Hall (Gastropoda), Upper Ordovician, Cincinnatian Province: Bulletins of American Paleontology, v. 58, p. 215–284.Google Scholar
Ulrich, E.O., and Scofield, W.H., 1897, The Lower Silurian Gastropoda of Minnesota: The Geology of Minnesota, v. 3, pt. 2, p. 813–1081.Google Scholar
Vendrasco, M.J., and Checa, A.G., 2015, Shell microstructure and its inheritance in the calcitic helcionellid Mackinnonia: Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 64, p. 99–104.Google Scholar
Vendrasco, M.J., Porter, S.M., Kouchinsky, A.V., Li, G., and Fernandez, C.Z., 2010, New data on molluscs and their shell microstructures from the Middle Cambrian Gowers Formation, Australia: Palaeontology, v. 53, p. 97–135.Google Scholar
Vendrasco, M.J., Checa, A.G., and Kouchinsky, A.V., 2011a, Shell microstructure of the early bivalve Pojetaia and the independent origin of nacre within the Mollusca: Palaeontology, v. 54, p. 825–850.Google Scholar
Vendrasco, M.J., Kouchinsky, A.V., Porter, S.M., and Fernandez, C.Z., 2011b, Phylogeny and escalation in Mellopegma and other Cambrian molluscs: Palaeontologia Electronica, v. 14, p. 1–44.Google Scholar
Vendrasco, M., Checa, A., Heimbrock, W., and Baumann, S., 2013, Nacre in Molluscs from the Ordovician of the Midwestern United States: Geosciences, v. 3, p. 1–29.Google Scholar
Vendrasco, M.J., Rodríguez-Navarro, A.B., Checa, A.G., Devaere, L., and Porter, S.M., 2015, To infer the early evolution of mollusc shell microstructures: Key Engineering Materials, v. 672, p. 113–133.Google Scholar
Vostokova, V.A., 1962, Cambrian gastropods from Siberian Platform and Taimyr: Statei po Paleontologii i Biostratigrafii, v. 28, p. 51–74.Google Scholar
Wada, K., 1972, Nucleation and growth of aragonite crystals in the nacre of some bivalve molluscs: Biomineralisation, v. 6, p. 141–159.Google Scholar
Wagner, P.J., 2013, Paleozoic Gastropod, Rostroconch, and “Monoplacophoran” (Tergomyan and Helcionelloid) Database: https://paleobiodb.org/classic?user=Guest&action=displayPage&page=OSA_6_Paleozoic_gastropods [Feb 2017]Google Scholar
Warén, A., 1989, New and little known Mollusca from Iceland: Sarsia, v. 74, p. 1–28Google Scholar
Wahlman, G.P., 1992, Middle and Upper Ordovician Symmetrical Univalved Mollusks (Monoplacophora and Bellerophontina) of the Cincinnati Arch Region: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1066-O, 213 p.Google Scholar
Williams, A., 1990, Biomineralization in the lophophorates, in Carter, J.G., ed., Skeletal Biomineralization: Patterns, Processes and Evolutionary Trends: New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, p. 67–82.Google Scholar