S^acu'LuG *■ UNlVEhSiTYOF ILLINOIS LIBRARY ATURBANA-CHWJIPAIGN GEaOGY The person charging this /"^ .e^^^^^^^^ sponsible for its return to ^^e hbra Y ^^^^ which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, «nd underlining of books are r;asons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the Un.vers.ty. c M.mnis LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRAKT OCT f 3 1976 Ottn 9 1977 L161 — O-1096 ) u.^ AUwK'^<^ FIELDIANA • GEOLOGY Published by FIELD MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Volume 16 December 16, 1968 No. 11 On the Nature of the Holotype of Nipterella paradoxica (BilHngs) Matthew H. Nitecki Assistant Curator, Fossil Invertebrates ABSTRACT The holotype of Nipterella paradoxica (Billings), based on Calathium para- doxicum Billings, 1865, is not a sponge but a cherty concretion. The name Nip- terella paradoxica is thus a nomen nudum and should be rejected. The genus Nipterella was based by Hinde (1889) on the genus Calathium of Billings (1865). The genus Calathium was named by Billings (1865, p. 208), who considered it to resemble in external characters certain Mesozoic sponges. He included sponges, as was customary in his time, among Protozoa. Billings (1865, pp. 358-359) based Calathium ? paradoxicum on two specimens. The specimen described on page 358 and illustrated in his figure 345 is now housed with the collections of the Canadian Geological Survey. The whereabouts of the second specimen de- scribed on page 359 is unknown. Billings assigned this species to Calathium with hesitation, but did not doubt that the specimens were truly fossils. He considered that the illustrated specimen was a fragment of an individual, but did not observe any "structure except an obscure concentric lamellar arrangement near the outside," and "a number of somewhat promi- nent rounded longitudinal ridges." Billings' figure 345 is reproduced in our figure 1. Miller (1877, p. 43; 1889, p. 155) listed the species in his catalogs. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-59376 No. 1064 289 290 FIELDIANA: GEOLOGY, VOLUME 16 Hinde (1889, pp. 144-145) redescribed Billings' figured specimens and erected a new genus Nipterella with C. paradoxicum as the type species. He noted traces of canals, and illustrated lithistid spicules, and selected the illustrated fragment as the type specimen, Ulrich (1890, p. 235) listed the species in his list of American Paleozoic sponges. Rauff (1894, pi. 1, fig. 11) published an illustration modified from Billings, which he reversed, and made to appear more sponge-like. His illustration is reproduced in figure 2. He based his definition of genus and species on Hinde's (1889) description and illustration. He assigned the genus to the family Rhizomorinidae, tribe Tetra- cladinidae, suborder Lithistina, order Tetractinellida. Head (1895, p. 3) listed Nipterella paradoxica as the only recog- nized sponge among the species of Calathium, and rejected all species of Calathium as either "doubtful species" or erroneously referred to sponges. Twenhofel (1938, p. 37) believed that the holotype was lost, re- printed the original description of Billings, and considered that Nip- terella might possibly be a cryptozoan. He further stated that "the fact that irregularly-shaped bodies of chert are present in the Ro- maine formation leads to the suspicion that the shapes have no sig- nificance and that no organisms are represented." Laubenfels (1955) noted the range of the genus Nipterella as Cam- brian to Ordovician. He assigned the genus to an uncertain family of the suborder Rhizomorina within the order Lithistida. Bolton (1960, p. 9) cataloged as a holotype the specimen illus- trated by Billings. Sokolov (1962, p. 64) listed Nipterella as a non-Soviet genus with- in Rhizomorina incertae sedis. He considered Rhizomorina a tribe in the suborder Poikilorhabdina, order Cornacuspongiida. Finks (1967, p. 1145) considered Nipterella a probable "antha- spidellid allied to Archaeoscyphia." In the process of the work on the Calathium complex the loan of the holotype of Nipterella paradoxica was arranged. The type is illus- trated in figures 3 and 4. The examination of the holotype reveals that it is a typical chert fragment riddled with dendrites of pyrolusite. No organic structures are present. The specimen is weathered and fractured, and there is residual clay present. The weathered layer, partly recrystallized, is Fig. 1. Billings' (1865) illustration of Calathium ? paradoxicum. Fig. 2. Rauff's (1894) illustration of Nipterella paradoxica. 291 292 FIELDIANA: GEOLOGY, VOLUME 16 very thin. The "pores" are weathering phenomena perhaps induced by Hchens. No spicules are to be seen. There is a small area of the chert specimen that was cut and par- tially polished. It shows no structure other than casts of rhombic crystals. There are cherty agates in the collections of Field Museum that possess all the structures seen in this holotype. The chert nodule has been broken. The "holotype" seems to rep- resent half of the original specimen with one fractured surface. The causes of this breakage are unknown: they may have been natural, chemical or mechanical, or may have been simply caused by man. Thus, the resulting two sides of the fragment are not the same. It is this difference of appearance of the sides that probably is respon- sible for the error of identification of the specimen. The splitting occurred relatively recently as the broken surface (fig. 4) is smooth and without noticeable effects of weathering or solution. The outer surface (fig. 3) shows the effects of extensive weathering and expo- sure to the action of solution and chemical changes. It is impossible to say whether this alteration occurred under a soil cover, or whether the chert was loose and exposed to prolonged action of subaerial de- struction. The shape of the fragment, and the grooving and pitting upon the surface, however, imply some mechanical wear and perhaps solution by moss or lichens. The photographs of the "holotype" (figs. 3 and 4) differ from Billings' (1865) illustration. They are even more unlike Rauff's (1894) figure. It appears that Rauff based his diagnosis upon Bill- ings' and Hinde's (1889) publications without examination of original specimens. Thus, the authority of Rauff's illustration in his other- wise excellent work was convincing to later workers, who accepted his interpretation. It is concluded that Nipterella paradoxica (Billings) is a name given to an inorganic fragment of chert and, therefore, should be rejected as a nomen nudum. Material. — Geological Survey of Canada no. 451. Stratigraphic position. — Lower Ordovician; Beekmantown Group; Romaine Formation. Locality. — Mingan Islands, Quebec, Canada. Collected by Logan and Richardson in 1856. Fig. 3. Holotype of Nipterella paradoxica. Canad. Geol. Surv., no. 451. "Outer view." Fig. 4. Holotype of Nipterella paradoxica. Canad. Geol. Surv., no. 451. 'Inner view." 293 294 FIELDIANA: GEOLOGY, VOLUME 16 SYNONYMY 1865. Calathium ? paradoxicum Billings, Palaeozoic Fossils, vol. 1, pp. 358-359, text fig. 345. Mingan Islands; Calciferous formations. 1877. Calathium paradoxicum Miller, American Palaeozoic Fossils, p. 43. 1889. Nipterella HiNDE, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, London, 45, pp. 144-145. Calciferous Forma- tion of the Mingan Islands, Lower St. Lawrence. 1889. Nipterella paradoxica HiNDE, Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, London, 45, pp. 144-145, pi. 5, fig. 15. Calcif- erous Formation of the Mingan Islands, Lower St. Lawrence. 1889. Calathium paradoxicum Miller, N. Amer. Geol. Palaeontol., p. 155. Calciferous group. 1889. Nipterella paradoxica Miller, N. Amer. Geol. Palaeontol., p. 155. Calciferous group. 1890. Calathium pardoxicum Ulrich, 111. Geol. Surv., 8, p. 235. Cambrian. 1894. Nipterella Rauff, Palaeontographica, 40, p. 241. Uppermost Cambrian, Calciferous group. 1894. Nipterella paradoxica Rauff, Palaeontographica, 40, p. 241, pi. 1, figs. 11-14. Uppermost Cambrian, Calciferous shale of the Mingan Islands in the lower St. Lawrence, close to southwest of Labrador. 1895. Nipterella paradoxica Head, Palaeozoic sponges of North America, p. 3. Calciferous group, Mingan Islands. 1938. Nipterella paradoxica TwENHOFEL, Geol. Soc. Amer., Special Papers, 11, p. 37. Romaine Formation, Mingan Islands, Quebec. 1955. Nipterella Laubenfels, Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, part E, p. E49. Cam- brian-Ordovician, Eastern Canada. 1955. Nipterella paradoxica Laubenfels, Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, part E, p. E49. 1960. Calathium ? paradoxicum Bolton, Catalogue of type invertebrate fossils. Geol. Surv. Canada, p. 9. Lower Ordovician (Romaine Formation), Mingan Islands, Quebec. 1962. Nipterella SOKOLOV, Osnovy paleontologii, 2, p. 64. Outside of USSR. 1967. Nipterella Finks, Jour. Paleontol., 41, p. 1145. Lower Ordovician. nitecki: holotype of nipterella paradoxica 295 Acknowledgments Thomas E. Bolton of the Geological Survey of Canada kindly loaned the holotype of Nipterella paradoxica (Billings) for study. The support from the National Science Foundation Research Grant No. GB-7197 is acknowledged. REFERENCES Billings, E. 1865. Palaeozoic fossils, vol. 1, containing descriptions and figures of new or little known species of organic remains from the Silurian rocks, 1861-1865. Geol. Surv. Canada, 426 pp., 401 text figs. Bolton, Thomas E. 1960. Catalogue of type invertebrate fossils of the Geological Survey of Can- ada, vol. 1. Geol. Surv. Canada, 215 pp. Finks, Robert M. 1967. The structure of Saccospongia laxata Bassler (Ordovician) and the phy- logeny of the Demospongea. Jour, Paleontol., 41, no. 5, pp. 1137-1149, pis. 145-146, 5 text figs. Head, William R. 1895. Palaeozoic sponges of North America. Published by the author, Chi- cago, Illinois. 12 pp. HiNDE, G. J. 1889. On Archaeocyathus, Billings and on other genera, allied to or associated with it, from the Cambrian strata of North America, Spain, Sardinia, and Scotland. Quart. Jour, Geol. Soc. London, 45, pp. 125-148, pi, 5, Laubenfels, M. W. de 1955. Porifera, pp. E21-E122, figs, 14-89, In R. C. Moore ed„ Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part E. Archaeocyatha and Porifera. Miller, S. A. 1877. The American Palaeozoic fossils: a catalogue of the genera and species, etc. Cincinnati, Ohio. 334 pp. 1889. North American Geology and Palaeontology for the use of amateurs, students, and scientists. Cincinnati, Ohio, 664 pp,, 1194 text figs. Rauff, Herman 1894. Palaeospongiologie. In Palaeontographica, 40, 344 pp., 17 pis., 75 text figs. SOKOLOV, B. S., ed. 1962. Gubki, arheociaty, kishechnopolostnye, chervi. Osnovy paleontologii. Moskva, USSR. 485 pp., numerous pis., and text figs. TWENHOFEL, W. H. 1938. Geology and Paleontology of the Mingan Islands, Quebec. Geol. Soc. Amer., Special Papers, no. 11, 132 pp., 24 pis., 1 text fig., 1 table. Ulrich, E. O. 1890. AmericanPalaeozoic sponges, pp. 209-241. In Geology and Paleontol- ogy, 111. Geol. Surv., 8.