First occurrence of well-preserved Ordovician trilobites of the family Olenidae from Africa

Here we describe the first articulated olenid trilobite specimens recovered from the lowermost Fezouata Shale Formation (lower Tremadocian, Ordovician) of Morocco. Prior to the discovery of this sample, only two partial olenid trilobite specimens had been found from this part of the rock record. The...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of paleontology 2024-01, p.1-10
Main Authors: Hopkins, Melanie J., Gutiérrez-Marco, Juan Carlos, Di Silvestro, Gianpaolo
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Here we describe the first articulated olenid trilobite specimens recovered from the lowermost Fezouata Shale Formation (lower Tremadocian, Ordovician) of Morocco. Prior to the discovery of this sample, only two partial olenid trilobite specimens had been found from this part of the rock record. The specimens are well preserved enough to confidently identify as Leptoplastides salteri (Callaway, 1877), extending the species geographic range from Avalonia into Gondwana. We argue that the Moroccan occurrences formerly referred to as “ Beltella sp.” in the literature are likely to be those of L . salteri . This species is the only olenid trilobite known from African Gondwana.
ISSN:0022-3360
1937-2337
DOI:10.1017/jpa.2023.60