'Striispirifer'-Spirinella Community, Cliftonwood Limestone, near Yass (Silurian of Australia)

Where: Australian Capital Territory, Australia (35.0° S, 149.0° E: paleocoordinates 2.2° N, 175.5° E)

• coordinate based on nearby landmark

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Cliftonwood Limestone Member (Yass Formation), Gorstian (427.4 - 425.6 Ma)

• Age of community given as Late Wenlockian? to Early Ludlovian. Correlation chart gives lowermost Gorstian for this member.

• member-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: marine; silty limestone and gray, calcareous mudstone

• "As interpreted by Link (1971), the clastid sediments of the Cliftonwood Lst were deposited in a quiet transgression and were high subtidal to locally intertidal. The lower, sandier part of his Yass Subgroup has common ripple marked and occasional raindrop? marked bedding surfaces...Mud cracks filled with fine sand are not uncommon in the lower beds. Fossils are usually scattered...brachiopods commonly articulated...some evidence of bioturbation. The overall aspect of the fauna suggests assignment to BA 3. In the Canberra area, wehre the Yarralumla Form. is muddier and more obviously volcanogenic and local relief was probably greater, some occurrences may be deeper, but this has yet to be established."
• "In this section...the most abundant shelly fossils are in a thin layer of grey brown, calcareous mudstone just above a 60 cm thick silty limestone."

Size class: macrofossils

Collection methods: Taxa listed in table 14.6, with abundances. Cliftonwood Lst only.

Primary reference: D. L. Strusz and M. J. Garratt. 1999. Australian communities. In A. J. Boucot, J. D. Lawson (eds.), Paleocommunities - a case study from the Silurian and Lower Devonian 177-199 [M. Foote/M. Foote/P. Wagner]more details

Purpose of describing collection: paleoecologic analysis

PaleoDB collection 25680: authorized by Michael Foote, entered by Michael Foote on 20.09.2002

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Show authors, comments, and common names
Anthozoa
 Favositida - Favositidae
? Favosites sp.
? Favosites sp. Lamarck 1816 tabulate coral
 Heliolitida - Heliolitidae
Heliolites sp.
Heliolites sp. Dana 1846 tabulate coral
 Rugosa -
Rugosa indet.
Rugosa indet. horn coral
 Cystiphyllida - Tryplasmatidae
Tryplasma derrengullenense
 Cystiphyllida - Goniophyllidae
Rhizophyllum cf. interpunctatum
Rhynchonellata
 Athyridida - Anoplothecidae
Coelospira cavata
 Atrypida - Atrypidae
Atrypa cf. dzwinogrodensis
 Atrypida - Atrypinidae
? Atrypina sp., Spirigerina marginalis
? Atrypina sp. Hall and Clarke 1893
 Atrypida - Septatrypidae
Atrypoidea australis
 Orthida - Draboviidae
Salopina aff. mediocostata
 Spiriferida - Cyrtiidae
Striispirifer sp.
Striispirifer sp. Cooper and Muir-Wood 1951
genus name in quotes
 Spiriferida - Reticulariidae
Spirinella caecistriata
Strophomenata
 Orthotetida - Chilidiopsidae
Morinorhynchus shearsbyi
 Strophomenida - Aegiromenidae
"Aegiria (Epelidoaegiria) chilidifera" = Epelidoaegiria minuta chilidifera
"Aegiria (Epelidoaegiria) chilidifera" = Epelidoaegiria minuta chilidifera Strusz 1982
Inarticulata
  -
"Inarticulata" indet.
"Inarticulata" indet.
inarticulate brachiopods indet.
Gastropoda
  -
Gastropoda indet.
Gastropoda indet. Cuvier 1795 snail
Trilobita
 Phacopida - Encrinuridae
"Pacificurus sp." = Batocara
"Pacificurus sp." = Batocara Strusz 1980 trilobite
 Proetida - Otarionidae
Otarion sp.
Otarion sp. Zenker 1833 trilobite
 Proetida - Proetidae
Prantlia cf. yassensis
Prantlia cf. yassensis Etheridge and Mitchell 1892 trilobite
Ostracoda
 Cypridinida - Bolbozoidae
Bolbozoe sp.
Bolbozoe sp. Barrande 1872 ostracod
Crinoidea
 Pisocrinida - Pisocrinidae
Pisocrinus australis