Hostname: page-component-65f69f4695-kztdx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-27T08:21:37.195Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pterotheca (Gastropoda) from the Telychian (Silurian) Xiushan Formation of South China: taxonomy, paleoecology, and paleogeography

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2025

Wenjie Li Open the ORCID record for Wenjie Li [Opens in a new window] ,
Xiang Fang Open the ORCID record for Xiang Fang [Opens in a new window] ,
Jiaqi Song  and
Yuandong Zhang Open the ORCID record for Yuandong Zhang [Opens in a new window]
Wenjie Li*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Xiang Fang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Jiaqi Song
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Yuandong Zhang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
*
Corresponding author: Wenjie Li; Email: wjli@nigpas.ac.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pterotheca Salter, 1853 is an unusual but readily identifiable bellerophontoid gastropod that occurs in the Upper Ordovician to the Llandovery of the lower Silurian in many parts of North America and Europe. Recently, a large collection of Pterotheca was obtained for the first time from the Xiushan Formation of middle Telychian (Llandovery) age in the Hunan Province of South China. This is also the first record of the genus in the low-latitude peri-Gondwanan region. On the basis of the collection, two new species of Pterotheca—P. yongshunensis and P. xiushanensis—were identified and are described herein. The morphologic analysis suggests that close relatives of these new species may be Pterotheca species from the Telychian of Scotland. The new species show continuous variations of marginal apex to submarginal apex, implying that one of the Pterotheca species may be ancestral to the Devonian Aspidotheca Spriesterbach, 1919. The Pterotheca species from South China possibly lived a slowly crawling life on a soft substrate, feeding on algae and/or detritus, and were adapted to a shallow-water setting with substantial terrigenous input. Given that all the known Silurian Pterotheca species occurred in siliciclastic settings, most of which represent sea-level fall and lowstand periods, we demonstrate that geographic isolation and enhanced ocean circulation during the early Silurian regression facilitated the speciation of Pterotheca globally, and the connection of a sea pathway during the Rhuddanian transgression after the end-Ordovician glaciation could have led to the primary dispersal of Silurian Pterotheca.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 98 , Issue 6 , November 2024 , pp. 981 - 995
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Paleontological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Arthur, M.A., and Sageman, B.B., 2005, Sea-level control on source-rock development: perspectives from the Holocene Black Sea, the Mid-Cretaceous Western Interior Basin of North America, and the Late Devonian Appalachian Basin, in Harris, N.B., ed., The Deposition of Organic-Carbon-Rich Sediments: Models, Mechanisms, and Consequences: SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology Special Publication 82, p. 35–59.10.2110/pec.05.82.0035CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benton, M.J., and Hiscock, C., 1996, Lower Silurian trace fossils and the Eocoelia community in the Tortworth Inlier, SW England: Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, v. 107, p. 199–208.10.1016/S0016-7878(96)80029-0CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Candela, Y., and Crighton, W.R.B., 2019, Synoptic revision of the Silurian fauna from the Pentland Hills, Scotland described by Lamont (1978): Palaeontologia Electronica, n. 22.2.19A, p. 1–45.Google Scholar
Chen, D., 2023, Telychian (Llandovery, Silurian) brachiopods in South China [Ph.D. thesis]: Nanjing, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 403 p.Google Scholar
Chen, G.Y., Han, N.R., and Luo, R., 2011, Restudy of Coronocephalus gaoluoensis Wu, 1979: Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, v. 50, p. 284–303.Google Scholar
Chen, X., and Rong, J.Y., 1996, Telychian (Llandovery) of the Yangtze Region and its correlation with British Isles: Beijing, Science Press, 162 p.Google Scholar
Chen, X., Rong, J.Y., Wang, C.Y., Geng, L.Y., and Chen, T.E., 1996, Telychian of the Yangtze Region, in Chen, X., and Rong, J.Y., eds., Telychian (Llandovery) of the Yangtze Region and Its Correlation with British Isles: Beijing, Science Press, p. 4–37.Google Scholar
Chen, Z., Wang, C., and Fan, R., 2016, Restudy of the Llandovery conodont biostratigraphy in the Xiushan area, Chongqing City, China: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 53, p. 651–659.10.1139/cjes-2015-0189CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarkson, E.N.K., Harper, D.A.T., and Peel, J.S., 1995, Taxonomy and palaeoecology of the mollusc Pterotheca from the Ordovician and Silurian of Scotland: Lethaia, v. 28, p. 101–114.10.1111/j.1502-3931.1995.tb01600.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cramer, B.D., and Saltzman, M.R., 2007, Fluctuations in epeiric sea carbonate production during Silurian positive carbon isotope excursions: a review of proposed paleoceanographic models: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 245, p. 37–45.10.1016/j.palaeo.2006.02.027CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, M.L.K., 1972, The Silurian rocks of the Tortworth Inlier, Gloucestershire: Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, v. 83, p. 1–35.10.1016/S0016-7878(72)80022-1CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebbestad, J.O.R., 2007, Gastropods, in Clarkson, E.N.K., Harper, D.A.T., Taylor, C.M., and Anderson, L.I., eds., Silurian Fossils of the Pentland Hills, Scotland: London, The Palaeontological Association, p. 109–122.Google Scholar
Ebbestad, J.O.R., and Gutiérrez-Marco, J.C., 2017, First occurrence of Pterotheca (Gastropoda) from the Silurian (Aeronian) of Spain: Geobios, v. 50, p. 97–104.10.1016/j.geobios.2017.02.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebbestad, J.O.R., Frýda, J., Wagner, P.J., Horný, R.J., Isakar, M., et al., 2013, Biogeography of Ordovician and Silurian gastropods, monoplacophorans and mimospirids, in Harper, D.A.T., and Servais, T., eds., Early Palaeozoic Biogeography and Palaeogeography: Geological Society of London Memoir 38, p. 199–220.Google Scholar
Emmons, E., 1842, Geology of New York, Pt. 2, Comprising the Survey of the Second Geological District: Albany, New York State Geological Survey, 437 p.Google Scholar
Fischer, P., 1883, Manuel de conchyliologie et de paléontologie conchyliologique: Fascicule 5: Paris, Savy, p. 417–512.Google Scholar
Floyd, J.D., and Williams, M., 2003, A revised correlation of Silurian rocks in the Girvan district, SW Scotland: Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, v. 93, p. 383–392.Google Scholar
García-López, S., and Bastida, F., 2002, Palaeozoic conodonts from northern Spain: Cuadernos del Museo Geominero, v. 1, p. 438.Google Scholar
Ge, Z.Z., Rong, J.Y., Yang, X.C., Liu, G.W., Ni, Y.N., Dong, D.Y., and Wu, H.J., 1979, Silurian in southwestern regions of China in Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Academia Sinica, eds., Carbonatite Biostratigraphy in Southwestern Regions of China: Beijing, Science Press, p. 155–220.Google Scholar
Hall, J., 1861, Notes on the genera Bellerophon, Bucania, Carinaropsis, and Cyrtolites: New York State Cabinet of Natural History 14th Report, p. 93–98.Google Scholar
Haq, B.U., and Schutter, S.R., 2008, A chronology of Paleozoic sea-level changes: Science, v. 322, p. 64–68.10.1126/science.1161648CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, M.E., 2006, Relationship of Silurian sea-level fluctuations to oceanic episodes and events: GFF, v. 128, p. 115–121.10.1080/11035890601282115CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, M.E., 2010, Tracking Silurian eustasy: alignment of empirical evidence or pursuit of deductive reasoning?: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 296, p. 276–284.10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.11.024CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight, J.B., Cox, L.R., Keen, A.M., Batten, R.L., Yochelson, E.L., and Robertson, R., 1960, Systematic descriptions, in Moore, R.C., ed., Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part I, Mollusca 1: Lawrence, Kansas, Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press, p. I169–I324.Google Scholar
Lamont, A., 1978, Pentlandian miscellany: Mollusca, Trilobita etc.: Scottish Journal of Science, v. 1, p. 245–302.Google Scholar
Loydell, D.K., 1998, Early Silurian sea-level changes: Geological Magazine, v. 135, p. 447–471.10.1017/S0016756898008917CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loydell, D.K., 2005, Graptolites from the Deerhope Formation, North Esk Inlier: Scottish Journal of Geology, v. 41, p. 189–190.10.1144/sjg41020189CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malinky, J.M., 2003, Ordovician and Silurian hyoliths and gastropods reassigned from the Hyolitha from the Girvan district, Scotland: Journal of Paleontology, v. 77, p. 625–645.10.1666/0022-3360(2003)077<0625:OASHAG>2.0.CO;22.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
M'Coy, F., 1851, On some new Cambro-Ordovician fossils: Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 2nd series, v. 8, p. 387–489.10.1080/03745486109494991CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mu, E.Z., Li, J.J., Ge, M.Y., Chen, X., Ni, Y.N., Lin, Y.K., and Mu, X.N., 1974, Silurian graptolites, in Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, ed., Atlas of Palaeontology of Southwest China: Beijing, Science Press, p. 211–221.Google Scholar
Nicol, J., 1850, Observations on the Silurian strata of the south east of Scotland: Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, v. 6, p. 53–65.10.1144/GSL.JGS.1850.006.01-02.10CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peel, J.S., 1984, Autecology of Silurian gastropods and monoplacophorans: Special Papers in Palaeontology 32, p. 165–182.Google Scholar
Pitcher, B.L., 1939, The upper Valentian gastropod fauna of Shropshire: Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 11, v. 4, p. 82–132.10.1080/00222933908526975CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ponder, W.F., Lindberg, D.R., and Ponder, J.M., 2020, Biology and Evolution of the Mollusca, Volume 1 (first edition): Boca Raton, CRC Press, 924 p.10.1201/9781351115254CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Portlock, J.E., 1843, Report on the Geology of the County of Londonderry and of Parts of Tyrone and Fermanagh, Dublin: Dublin, Andrew Milliken and Hodges and Smith, 784 p.Google Scholar
Reed, F.R.C., 1909, Lower Palaeozoic Hyolithidae from Girvan: Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, v. 47, p. 203–222.10.1017/S0080456800011418CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, G., 1989, A palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the Silurian rocks in the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh, Scotland: Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences, v. 80, p. 127–141.Google Scholar
Rong, J.Y., Chen, X., Wang, C.Y., Geng, L.Y., Wu, H.J., Deng, Z.Q., Chen, T.E., and Xu, J.T., 1990, Comments on some problems concerning the Silurian correlation in South China: Journal of Stratigraphy, v. 14, p. 161–177.Google Scholar
Salter, J., 1853, On a few genera of Irish fossils: 22nd Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Belfast, p. 59–61.Google Scholar
Scotese, C.R., 2021, An atlas of Phanerozoic paleogeographic maps: the seas come in and the seas go out: Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, v. 49, p. 679–728.10.1146/annurev-earth-081320-064052CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sowerby, G.B.I., 1825, A Catalogue of the Shells Contained in the Collection of the Late Earl of Tankerville, Arranged According to the Lamarckian Conchological System; Together with an Appendix, Containing Descriptions of Many New Species. Illustrated with Several Colour Plates: London, G.B. Sowerby, 92 p.10.5962/bhl.title.39559CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spriesterbach, J., 1919, Neue Versteinerungen aus dem Lenneschiefer: Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Geologischen Landesanstalt zu Berlin, v. 38, p. 434–512.Google Scholar
Teichert, C., 1935, Über Pterotheca Salter und verwandte Bellerophontacean: Paläontologische Zeitschrift, v. 17, p. 167–177.10.1007/BF03041700CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teichert, C., 1961, Authorship of gastropod genus Aspidotheca: Journal of Paleontology, v. 35, p. 880–881.Google Scholar
Ulrich, E.O., and Scofield, W.H., 1897, The lower Silurian Gastropoda of Minnesota: The Geology of Minnesota, v. 3, p. 813–1081.Google Scholar
Ver Straeten, C.A., Brett, C.E., and Sageman, B.B., 2011, Mudrock sequence stratigraphy: a multi-proxy (sedimentological, paleobiological and geochemical) approach, Devonian Appalachian Basin: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 304, p. 54–73.10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.10.010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wahlman, G.P., 1992, Middle and Upper Ordovician symmetrical univalved mollusks (Monoplacophora and Bellerophontina) of the Cincinnati Arch Region: United States Geological Survey Professional Paper 1066–O, 213 p.Google Scholar
Wang, C.Y., Chen, L.D., Wang, Y., and Tang, P., 2010, Affirmation of Pterospathodus eopennatus Zone (Conodonta) and the age of the Silurian Shamao Formation in Zigui, Hubei as well as the correlation of the related strata: Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, v. 49, p. 10–28.Google Scholar
Wang, X.F., 1965, On the discovery of late early and middle Silurian graptolites from N. Guizhou (Kueichou) and its significance: Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, v. 13, p. 118–127.Google Scholar
Wang, Y., Rong, J.Y., Tang, P., Huang, B., Zhang, X.L., and Zhao, W.J., 2021, Lithostratigraphic subdivision and correlation of the Silurian in China: Journal of Stratigraphy, v. 45, p. 271–285.Google Scholar
Wu, H.J., 1979, Silurian Encrinuridae (Trilobita) from southwestern China: Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, v. 18, p. 125–150.Google Scholar
Wu, H.J., 1990, On genus Coronocephalus Grabau, 1924 (Silurian trilobite): Acta Palaeontologica Sinica, v. 29, p. 527–547.Google Scholar
Wu, H.J., and Lane, P.D., 1996, Trilobite, in Chen, X., and Rong, J.Y., eds., Telychian (Llandovery) of the Yangtze Region and Its correlation with British Isles: Beijing, Science Press, p. 67–70.Google Scholar
Zhang, X.L., Liu, J.B., Wang, Y., Rong, J.Y., Zhan, R.B., Xu, H.H., and Tang, P., 2018, Onset of the middle Telychian (Silurian) clastic marine red beds on the western Yangtze Platform, South China: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 497, p. 52–65.10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.02.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar