Bellerophontid molluscs in the Grimsby Formation (Llandovery, lower Silurian), Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and their paleoecological and taphonomic implications

Abstract

Specimens of a small bellerophontid mollusc, considered conspecific with Planorbis bilobatus Conrad 1839 from coeval strata in New York State, were recovered from the Grimsby Formation (lower Llandovery, lower Silurian), exposed in the Niagara Escarpment of western Hamilton, Ontario. Because Conrad’s species name is pre-occupied and is a secondary homonym, the new material is assigned to Tritonophon grimsbyensis n. sp. As Conrad’s original specimens are lost and where he collected them is unknown, a neotype from the Grimsby Formation is designated. These bellerophonts are preserved as casts on the soles of thin, fine-grained, sandstone beds interbedded with shale. These beds are probably tempestites Most are juvenile forms oriented on their sides, but in some beds adults with a widely expanded aperture are oriented aperture-down. Some specimens exhibit a V-shaped sinus on the median lobe, which is rarely preserved in Silurian examples. The aperture-down orientation suggests that this was the stable position during gentle wave action as well as probably their life position. Beds containing only juveniles may be evidence that the bellerophonts occasionally experienced a population boom but then were killed off during the storm event. Fine-grained sandstone fills the shell interiors, likely emplaced during wave-induced agitation. However, the shell walls are cast in mudstone, indicating that they dissolved during shallow burial and mud was pumped into the moulds. This may have been aided by episodic ground motion due to earthquakes that mobilized the adjacent sediment.