ESTONIAN ACADEMY
PUBLISHERS
eesti teaduste
akadeemia kirjastus
PUBLISHED
SINCE 1952
 
Earth Science cover
Estonian Journal of Earth Sciences
ISSN 1736-7557 (Electronic)
ISSN 1736-4728 (Print)

Short communication
A new species of the problematic organism Webbyites from the Early Ordovician Fezouata Biota of Morocco; pp. 74–77
PDF | https://doi.org/10.3176/earth.2023.24

Authors
Lucy A. Muir ORCID Icon, Juan Carlos Gutiérrez-Marco ORCID Icon
Abstract

The problematic colonial organism Webbyites has previously been considered to be a hydroid (phylum Cnidaria). In this paper, we describe a new species, Webbyites felix sp. nov., from the Early Ordovician Fezouata Konservat-Lagerstätte of Morocco. One specimen preserves some soft-tissue zooid remains. The presence of a stolon system in the new species and the type species indicates that Webbyites is a benthic graptolite. Webbyites lacks bithecae; thus, it is not a dendroid graptolite.

References

Bateson, W. 1885. The later stages in the development of Balanoglossus kowalevskii, with a suggestion as to the affinities of the Enteropneusta. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 25, 81–122.
https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.s2-25.S1.81

Bouček, B. 1956. Graptolitová a dendroidová fauna klabavských břidlic (dβ) z rokycanské Stráně (The graptolite and dendroid fauna of the Klabava Shales (dβ) from the Stráň at Rokycany). Sborník Ústředního ústavu geologického, Oddíl paleontologický, 22, 123–227. 

Cope, J. C. 2005. Octocorallian and hydroid fossils from the Lower Ordovician of Wales. Palaeontology, 48, 433–445.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2005.00455.x

Dzik, J., Baliński, A. and Sun, Y. 2016. An Early Ordovician clonal organism from China with a zig-zagged suture on branches. Bulletin of Geosciences, 91, 319–329.
https://doi.org/10.3140/bull.geosci.1575

Fry, W. L. 1983. An algal flora from the Upper Ordovician of the Lake Winnipeg region, Manitoba, Canada. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 39, 313–341.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0034-6667(83)90018-0

Gutiérrez-Marco, J. C. and Martin, E. L. O. 2016. Biostratigraphy and palaeoecology of Lower Ordovician graptolites from the Fezouata Shale (Moroccan Anti-Atlas). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 460, 35–49.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.07.026

Gutiérrez-Marco, J. C., Muir, L. A. and Mitchell, C. E. 2022. Upper Ordovician planktic and benthic graptolites and a possible hydroid from the Tafilalt Biota, southeastern Morocco. In The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event: Insights from the Tafilalt Biota, Morocco (Hunter, A. W., Alvaro, J. J., Lefebvre, B., Van Roy, P. and Zamora, S., eds). Geological Society, London, Special Publications, 485, 209–236.
https://doi.org/10.1144/SP485-2019-23

Hall, J. 1858. Report on Canadian graptolites. In Sir William E. Logan’s Report of Progress for 1857. Geological Survey of Canada. John Lovell, Montreal, 1–39.

Hall, J. 1861. Report of the Superintendent of the Geological Survey, Exhibiting the Progress of the Work, January 1, 1861 (including descriptions of new species of fossils from the investigations of the Survey). E. A. Calkins & Co., Madison. 

Kraft, P., Kraft, J. and Prokop, R. J. 2001. A possible hydroid from the Lower and Middle Ordovician of Bohemia. Alcheringa, 25, 143–154.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03115510108619101

Lankester, E. R. 1877. Notes on the embryology and classification of the animal kingdom: Comprising a revision of speculations relative to the origin and significance of the germ-layers. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 17, 399–454.
https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.s2-17.68.399

Lebrun, P. 2017. Le biotope des Fezouata de l’Ordovicien Inférieur au Maroc (The Fezouata biotope of the Lower Ordovician in Morocco). Fossiles, 31, 5–30.

Lefebvre, B., Lerosey-Aubril, R., Servais, T. and Van Roy, P. (eds). 2016. The Fezouata Biota: an exceptional window on the Cambro–Ordovician faunal transition. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 460, 1–178.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.06.041

LoDuca, S. T. 2019. New Ordovician marine macroalgae from North America, with observations on Buthograptus, Callithamnopsis, and Chaetocladus. Journal of Paleontology, 93, 197–214.
https://doi.org/10.1017/jpa.2018.76

Maletz, J. 2020. Part V, Second revision, Chapter 17: Order Dendroidea Nicholson, 1872: Introduction, morphology and systematic descriptions. Treatise Online, 139, 1–23.
https://doi.org/10.17161/to.vi.14679

Martin, E. L. O., Vidal, M., Vizcaïno, D., Vaucher, R., Sansjofre, P., Lefebvre, B. et al. 2016. Biostratigraphic and palaeoenvironmental controls on the trilobite associations from the Lower Ordovician Fezouata Shale of the central Anti-Atlas, Morocco. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 460, 142–154.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.06.003

Muir, L. A., McCobb, L. M. E. and Zhang, Y.-D. 2021. Cross-polarized light as an imaging technique for graptolites. Alcheringa, 45, 415–418.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2021.1983652

Muscente, A. D. and Allmon, W. D. 2013. Revision of the hydroid Plumalina Hall, 1858 in the Silurian and Devonian of New York. Journal of Paleontology, 87, 710–725.
https://doi.org/10.1666/12-125

Muscente, A. D., Allmon, W. D. and Xiao, S. H. 2016. The hydroid fossil record and analytical techniques for assessing the affinities of putative hydrozoans and possible hemichordates. Palaeontology, 59, 71–87.
https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12209

Van Roy, P., Orr, P. J., Botting, J. P., Muir, L. A., Vinther, J., Lefebvre, B. et al. 2010. Ordovician faunas of Burgess Shale type. Nature, 465, 215–218.
https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09038

Van Roy, P., Briggs, D. E. G. and Gaines, R. R. 2015. The Fezouata fossils of Morocco; an extraordinary record of marine life in the Early Ordovician. Journal of the Geological Society, 172, 541–549.
https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2015-017

Back to Issue

Choose new content alerts