Rmc. Eagar et Hwj. Van Amerom, A new highly variable non-marine bivalve fauna and a new species from basal Westphalian D near Osnabruck, Germany, T RS EDIN-E, 90, 1999, pp. 67-86
Citations number
63
Categorie Soggetti
Earth Sciences
Journal title
TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH-EARTH SCIENCES
The study is based on over 170 bivalve specimens collected in the last seve
n years by three independent collectors in basal Westphalian D strata at Pi
esberg Quarry, near Osnabruck, northern Germany. All the material has come
from the roof shales of either the Bankchen or the Dreibanke coal, 25 m abo
ve it, most of it from above the Dreibanke coal.
Both faunal bands have closely similar sediments, shells and floral associa
tions, mainly of hydrophyllic plants, including those that characterise wat
erlogged swamps. The palaeoenvironments were, on average, of low energy del
taic lakes. Both faunal bands constitute life assemblages of small, sparse
Anthraconaia mingled with abundant plants and plant debris in richly carbon
aceous shale with a variable carbonate content. Siphonal and pedal gapes of
the valves indicate that the bivalves lived in a steeply burrowing positio
n probably below the surface of the sediments. After death most valve pairs
lay with their median planes parallel to the bedding planes of the sedimen
t. Later overlying pressure, normal to bedding planes and varying according
to the time of carbonate formation, led to a pattern of breakdown of the c
onvexity of the shells essentially the same as that found in larger Anthrac
onaia in Westphalian B. In both cases it appears that lateral profiles of s
hells have been unaffected by vertical crushing. It is therefore reasonable
to treat the profiles of uncrushed and vertically crushed shells together.
On the basis of measurements and morphology two groups of shells have been
distinguished at Piesberg, that of Anthraconaia pruvosti (Tchernychev) Weir
, comprising about 96 per cent of the fauna, and the remainder Anthraconaia
piesbergensis sp. nov. Each is illustrated by a variation diagram or picto
graph and is in part defined by growth equations in terms of shell length,
height and anterior end. The small A. piesbergensis, which also yields evid
ence of posterior gape, is formally described. Anthraconaia pruvosti, which
has not been previously recorded in Germany, shows extremely wide variatio
n with a number of new varieties, but all intergrade with previously known
varieties of this species and include Anthraconaia weissiana (Geinitz). The
mean size of the shells is half that of the holotype, from northern France
, but size ranges are comparable with those from the U.K. The mode of the f
auna lies around small, elongate, subtriangular shells with nearly straight
to slightly reflected ventral margins.
The elements of the Piesberg fauna fall into place stratigraphically in the
sequence of Anthraconaia faunas in Westphalian C to late Westphalian D, ma
inly in the southern part of the U.K. Moreover, very small, scarce shells r
ecently described above No. 10 coal, late Westphalian D at Writhlington, So
merset, U.K., appear related to A. piesbergensis. At this horizon they had
different associates and a different palaeohabitat from those of the larger
Anthraconaia pringlei (Dix & Trueman) which succeeded A. pruvosti. It is t
herefore likely that A. piesbergensis may have occupied a different palaeoe
cological niche from that of A. pruvosti and that A. piesbergensis was coll
ected from a horizon slightly different from those yielding A. pruvosti at
Piesberg Quarry, possibly from a fauna which lived in shallower water.
Re-figuring of uncrushed, excellently preserved material of Anthraconaia af
f. pruvosti from late Westphalian C of Pembrokeshire, SW Wales, reveals new
evidence of the musculature of the genus Anthraconaia. There is also clear
evidence of siphonal and pedal gapes in closed valves, both being features
previously unrecognised in Anthraconaia, and characteristic, to date, only
of Westphalian late C and D Stages in Germany and the U.K.