MACROSCENELLA (MOLLUSCA) FROM THE MIDDLE ORDOVICIAN OF WISCONSIN - A REINTERPRETATION AND REASSIGNMENT

Description of two new specimens of Macroscenella superba (Billings) p rovides additional data on this rare, poorly known Paleozoic genus. Ma croscenella was considered first to be a gastropod, then a monoplacoph oran, and finally a coelenterate. Chondrophorine affinities for this f orm cannot be totally ruled out, but the new specimens increase the pr obability that it is a mollusk. If so, Macroscenella is more likely a patellacean gastropod than a member of any other group of the Mollusca , though evidence for placement within the Mollusca is equivocal; the interior of the specimens is not exposed and musculature is unknown. I f the integument was a shell, it was thin.