Exceptional preservation of bryozoans from the Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry, Oklahoma, USA

Seuß B, Ernst A, Taylor P, Nützel A (2016)


Publication Type: Conference contribution, Abstract of a poster

Publication year: 2016

Event location: Dresden

Abstract

The Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian–Virgilian) Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry in Oklahoma, USA is well known for its exceptional preservation of a diverse marine invertebrate fauna. Results from the latest study focusing on the Buckhorn bryozoans are presented. Nine genera and species are recognized, two of them new (Stenophragmidium buckhornensis and Streblotrypa (S.) heltzelae). Some skeletal characteristics that are usually lost during diagenesis are uniquely preserved. These include small to large (5-50µm in diameter) node-like surface expressions of styles that most likely strengthened the skeleton or were for attachment of the soft tissue rather than defense. ‘Nanoperforations’ observed in Streblotrypa (Streblotrypa) heltzelae, Stenophragmidium buckhornensis and Rhombocladia delicatula are tiny holes with a diameter of only 0.5 µm countersunk into the laminated skeletal walls. Such structures are unknown from other bryozoans (recent and fossil) and their genesis – produced by microendoliths or by the bryozoans themselves? – is unclear. The most likely hypothesis is that they are due to symbionts (e.g. bacteria) that lived embedded in the growing walls of the bryozoan zooids. In fractured branches of S. (S.) heltzelae, closely spaced ‘granule’ bands on the walls of the autozooids were found. Again, such structures have not been observed elsewhere and their origin and function are enigmatic. Mural spines are reported from R. delicata and Stenoporella sp. Spinose hemiphragms in some trepostomes are new features of unknown function. Finally, a transverse fibrous fabric found in the fenestrate Septopora blanda is reminiscent of a fabric common in post-Palaeozoic cyclostome bryozoans but hitherto not reported in palaeostomates from the Palaeozoic.

Authors with CRIS profile

Related research project(s)

Involved external institutions

How to cite

APA:

Seuß, B., Ernst, A., Taylor, P., & Nützel, A. (2016). Exceptional preservation of bryozoans from the Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry, Oklahoma, USA. Poster presentation at Jahrestagung der Paläontologischen Gesellschaft, Dresden.

MLA:

Seuß, Barbara, et al. "Exceptional preservation of bryozoans from the Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry, Oklahoma, USA." Presented at Jahrestagung der Paläontologischen Gesellschaft, Dresden 2016.

BibTeX: Download