Road River Formation, Northern Cordillera (Devonian of Canada)

Where: Northwest Territories, Canada (64.0° N, 133.0° W: paleocoordinates 1.2° S, 42.1° W)

• coordinate estimated from map

• outcrop-level geographic resolution

When: Road River and /or Delorme Formation, Pragian (410.8 - 407.6 Ma)

• Listed as Upper Pragian/Zlichovian. Skenidioides-Spirigerina-Vagrania community

• formation-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: deep subtidal shelf; lithified, shelly/skeletal limestone and poorly lithified, calcareous shale

• Notes that no species is dominant; "deep water facies"
• Dark, platy to thick-bedded, fossiliferous limestones and calcareous shales

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Primary reference: A.C. Lenz. 1976. Lower Devonian brachiopod communities of the northern Canadian Cordillera. Lethaia 9:19-27 [P. Novack-Gottshall/P. Hearn]more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 75582: authorized by Phil Novack-Gottshall, entered by Paul Hearn on 18.10.2007

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

• Skenidioides-Spirigerina-Vagrania community; Primarily focused on brachiopods, but notes that "gastropods are quite common throughout the sequence, while colonial corals and bivalves, though present, are relatively rare"
Bivalvia
  -
Bivalvia indet. Linnaeus 1758 clam
"Though present, are relatively rare"
Gastropoda
  -
Gastropoda indet. Cuvier 1795 snail
"Quite common throughout the sequence"
Rhynchonellata
 Rhynchonellida - Septalariidae
Athyrhynchus sp. Johnson 1973
"Very rare". Incurved beak
 Atrypida - Karpinskiidae
Vagrania sp.
"very coarse ribbing". Pedunculate
 Atrypida - Carinatinidae
Biconostrophia sp.
"Very rare". Pedunculate
 Atrypida - Atrypidae
Atrypa cf. nevadana, ""Sibirispira" sp." = Spinatrypina
Atrypa cf. nevadana Merriam 1940
""Sibirispira" sp." = Spinatrypina Rzhonsnitskaya 1964
 Orthida - Schizophoriidae
Schizophoria cf. nevadensis
Pedunculate dalmanellinidan orthids
 Orthida - Mystrophoridae
Mystrophora sp.
Pedunculate orthids typically attached to hard substrata
 Orthida - Dalmanellidae
 Orthida - Dicoelosiidae
 Protorthida - Skenidiidae
Skenidioides sp. Schuchert and Cooper 1931
"Most common"
Strophomenata
 Strophomenida - Strophochonetidae
 Strophomenida -
Strophochonetes sp. Muir-Wood 1962
 Strophomenida - Douvillinidae
Phragmostrophia merriami Harper et al. 1967
 Strophomenida - Leptaenoideidae
Leptaenisca sp. Beecher 1890
 Strophomenida - Strophonellidae
Strophonella sp. Hall 1879
"Large"; "rare"
 Strophomenida - Rafinesquinidae
Leptaena sp. Dalman 1828
"Most common"
 Strophomenida - Leptostrophiidae
Leptostrophia sp. Hall and Clarke 1892
"Rare"
 Strophomenida - Strophodontidae
Megastrophia iddingsi Merriam 1940
"Most common"
 Productida - Productellidae
Spinulicosta sp.
Productoids are rare among brachiopods
Anthozoa
  -
Anthozoa indet. Ehrenberg 1834
"Though present, are relatively rare"