On the nature of the holotype of Nipterella paradoxica (Billings)

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which it was withdrawn on or before the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.