The Devonian Colonial Coral Genus Billinpsastraeao and Its Earliest Known Species GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 483-B The Devonian Colonial Coral Genus Billingsastraea and Its Earliest Known Species By WILLIAM A. OLIVER, JR. CONTRIBUTIONS TO PALEONTOLOGY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 483-B The geographic and stratigraphic distribution of Billingsastraea with a redescription of B. affinis its earliest known species UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1964 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Thomas B. Nolan, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, B.C., 20402 CONTENTS Page Abstract___________________________________________ Bl Introduction.______________________________________ 1 Distribution of Billingsastraea-------.---,-------.---- 1 Genus Billingsastraea Grabau._______________________ 2 B. affinis (Billings)____________________________ 3 References cited-___________________________________ 4 ILLUSTRATIONS PLATES 1, 2. Billingsastraea affinis (Billings)_______-Follow B5 TABLES TABLE 1. Correlation of the New York stratigraphic section with the European stages._________ Bl 2. Standard statistics of holotype corallum______ 4 695-563 O 64 CONTRIBUTIONS TO PALEONTOLOGY THE DEVONIAN COLONIAL CORAL GENUS BILLINGSASTRAEA AND ITS EARLIEST KNOWN SPECIES By WILLIAM A. OLIVER, JR. ABSTRACT "in all probability the top division is higher than any In North America, the compound rugose coral genus Bil­ Oriskany exposed in New York.*' More recently, lingsastraea ranges in age from late Early Devonian (middle Boucot (1959, p. 738-739) suggested that the upper part Coblenzian) to latest Middle Devonian (late Givetian) ; it is not certainly known outside of North America, although it may oc­ of the Grande Greve (limestone No. 8 of Logan) falls cur in Europe and Australia. The genus is composed of within his Esopus Stage (1959, p. 738-739) which over­ astraeoid, thamnastraeoid, and aphroid corals with disphyllid lies the Deerpark (Oriskany) Stage and underlies the structure. The oldest known species, B. aflinis, is redescribed. Schoharie (table 1). Specimens of Billingsastraea are widespread but un­ INTRODUCTION common in the somewhat younger rocks of Schoharie In the course of a study of the compound rugose age. Poorly preserved indeterminate specimens are corals from the Middle Devonian Onondaga Limestone known from the Schoharie Formation (Elckard Hill in New York, the holotype and only known specimen of Member of Johnsen, 1957) in eastern New York. At BiUwgsastraea affims (Billings), from the early Innerkip, Ontario, better specimens have been collected Devonian Grande Greve Limestone in the Gaspe area; from the lower part of the Bois Blanc Formation, which Quebec, was borrowed for comparison. B. affinis is of Oliver (1960, p. 173) correlated with the Schoharie. special interest because it is the oldest species of the The genus also occurs in the Spirifer pinyonensis zone genus now known. of the Nevada Limestone, considered late Early The specimen of B. affinis was collected by Robert Devonian (presumably Schoharie age) by Cooper and Bell in 1862. Since that time no additional specimens others (1942, chart), by House (1962, p. 252-253), and have been found although several field studies have been by Johnson (1962). made in the area (Gumming, 1959, p. 1-6). The pres­ TABLE 1. Correlation of the New York stratigraphic section ent description is of the holotype corallum. It is hoped with the European stages that additional specimens will eventually permit an [Based on Cooper and others (1942), Boucot (1959), Oliver (1960), and House (1962)] adequate description of the species. European stage Standard New York North American stage (Cooper The specimen is the property of the Geological Sur­ section and others, 1942) vey of Canada and is numbered GSC 3270. Thin sec­ tions were made by W. C. Pinckney, Jr.; photographs Upper Devonian were made by E. H. McKinney (exteriors) and the au­ Frasnian Qeneseo Shale thor (thin sections). The typescript was critically 1 Taghanic read by D. J. McLaren and L. M. Gumming, Geological Tully Limestone MiddleDevonian Moscow Shale Survey of Canada and J. T. Dutro, Jr., and W. J. Tioughnioga Givetian Ludlowville Shale Hamilton Sando, U.S. Geological Survey. Skaneateles Shale Group Cazenovia ? Marcellus Shale DISTRIBUTION OF BILLINGSASTRAEA Eifelian Onondaga Limestone Billingsastraea affinis (Billings) is from the Indian Schoharie Grit Onesquethaw Coblenzian Esopus Shale Esopus Stage Cove Member of the Grande Greve Limestone (lime­ LowerDevonian of Boucot, stone No. 8 of Logan, 1863, p. 393). The Grande 1959 Greve has generally been correlated with the Oriskany Oriskany Sandstone Deerpark Formation (Billings, 1874, p. 2; Clarke, 1908, p. 250; Qedinnian Helderberg Group Helderberg Cooper and others, 1942, chart), although Cooper (in Cooper and others, 1942, p. 1762-1763) suggested that Silurian Bl B2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO PALEONTOLOGY In rocks of Middle Devonian age, specimens of Bil- the tabularium, whereas specimens of Billingsastraea lingsastraea are widespread and more common. Three have uniformly attenuate septa. Furthermore, the species occur in the Edgecliff Member of the Onondaga thickened-septa species are mostly of Late Devonian Limestone in New York (Eifelian age, Oliver, 1960); age. Schouppe failed to show that the "Phillipsas- these and other species are known from equivalent and traea" type was polyphyletically derived from species younger Middle Devonian formations in Missouri, of Billingsastraea, or indeed, that there was any rela­ Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, southwest tionship at all. On morphologic grounds, it seems nec­ Ontario, New York, the Hudson Bay lowlands, essary to keep the dominantly Middle Devonian Ellesmereland, and Northwest Territories. Billingsastraea separate from the Late Devonian The latest known specimens of Billingsastraea are ' ' Phillipsastraea." from the lower part of the Cedar Valley Limestone in In Europe then, only the specimens from the Lower Iowa (Solon Member of Cooper, 1942) and the Tully Devonian in Bohemia are possibly assignable to Bil­ Limestone in New York. Both of these formations lingsastraea. Therefore, the genus is rare in Europe, if have been assigned a Late Devonian (Frasnian) age at it occurs at all. one time or another, but both are now considered as Other reported occurrences of Billingsastraea are more probably of Middle Devonian age. The Cedar limited to Australia. DeKoninck 1898, p. 53) cited Valley is assigned to the late Middle Devonian by most Phillipsastraea verneuili (Milne-Edwards and Haime) recent workers (Cooper and others, 1942, p. 1750-1751; from the Middle Devonian of New South Wales. This Downs and Youngquist, 1950, p. 667-668; Collinson and is the type species of Billingsastraea* originally de­ Scott, 1958, p. 5). The age of the Tully is still disputed scribed from North America. This citation was re­ and the most recent assignment is to the early Late peated by Benson (1922, p. 68,), but the two specimens Devonian (House, 1961; 1962, p. 255-256). Tully have never been illustrated or adequately described. corals, however, are dominantly Middle Devonian Hill (1957, p. 46), in a review of Australian Devonian (Hamilton) species, with a very few species that are coral faunas, did not mention the occurrence and cited limited to the Tully and none of the typical Upper no other Australian specimens of Billingsastraea. Devonian forms. Brachiopod and conodont workers (for example Cooper, in Cooper and others, 1942, p. Family DISPHYLLIDAE 1786-1788; and Hass, 1959, p. 1615) reported similar Genus BILLINGSASTRAEA Grabau dominance of Tully faunas by Middle Devonian species. 1851. [part] Phillipsastraea Milne-Edwards and Haime, p. 447. Billingsastraea, therefore, ranges from rocks of Early 1917. Phillipsastraea (Billingsastraea) Grabau, p. 957. Devonian (Coblenzian) to late Middle Devonian (Give- 1937. Billingsastraea Grabau, Stumm, p. 437-^38. tian) age. An early Late Devonian (Frasnian) 1949. Billingsastraea Grabau, Stumm, p. 35. extension of this range is possible. 1951. Billingsastraea Grabau, Ehlers, and Stumm, p. 85. 1953. Billingsastraea Grabau, Ehlers, and Stumm, p. 1. In Europe, species from rocks of Early to Late De­ 1956. Billingsastraea Grabau, Hill, p. 280. vonian age haye been assigned to Billingsastraea. 1958. [not] Billingsastraea Grabau, Schoupp4, p. 235-237. Prantl (1951) described two Lower Devonian species Type species. By monotypy, Phillipsastraea ver­ from Bohemia in which the septa are virtually limited neuili Milne-Edwards and Haime, 1851 (p. 447-448, pi. to the tabularia which are surrounded by broad dissepi- 10, fig. 5). mentaria. Most American species have complete septa Horizon and locality of type species. Stated by extending from tabularia to the periphery of the cor- Milne-Edwards and Haime to be Wisconsin; generally allites; some species show incomplete septa locally. The assumed to be a drift specimen originating in the Onon­ Bohemian species may represent an extreme example daga or Bois Blanc Formations of Ontario or Michigan of the latter trend, although their Early Devonian age (Stumm, 1949, p. 35). suggests that they may represent instead an independ­ Diagnosis. Astraeoid, thamnastraeoid, or slightly ent development, not closely related to Billingsastraea. aphroid corals with calices having a central pit and a Schouppe (1958) showed that the type species of broad