Pennsylvanian Crinoids of New Mexico

Pennsylvanian crinoids of New Mexico Gary D. Webster, Department of Geology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, and Barry S. Kues, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 Abstract north of Alamogordo; (2) Morrowan and groups present on the outcrop were sam- Atokan specimens from the La Pasada For- pled, often repeatedly over the years. Crinoids from each of the five Pennsylvanian mation in the Santa Fe area; and (3) a mid- These collections, reposited at the Univer- epochs are described from 26 localities in dle Desmoinesian species from the Alami- sity of New Mexico (UNM), testify to the New Mexico. The crinoid faunas occupied tos Formation, north of Pecos. Bowsher rarity of identifiable crinoid cups and diverse shelf environments around many intermontane basins of New Mexico during and Strimple (1986) described 15 late crowns in these assemblages, even in cases the Pennsylvanian. The crinoids described Desmoinesian or early Missourian crinoid where crinoid stem elements are common. here include 29 genera, 39 named species, species (several not named) from near the In nearly all collections, crinoid cups rep- and at least nine unnamed species, of which top of the Bug Scuffle Member of the Gob- resent only a small fraction of 1% of the one genus and 15 named species are new. bler Formation south of Alamogordo in the total identifiable specimens. The only This report more than doubles the number of Sacramento Mountains. Kietzke (1990) exception is the fauna from the Missourian previously known Pennsylvanian crinoid illustrated a Desmoinesian microcrinoid Sol se Mete Member, Wild Cow Formation, species from New Mexico; 17 of these species from the Flechado Formation near Talpa. at Escabosa Quarry in the Manzanita also occur in midcontinent faunas. New Kues and Koubek (1991) reported two Mountains (locality 10), where the 30 or so Mexico Pennsylvanian crinoids exhibit greater species richness than Pennsylvanian cups from the Desmoinesian Los Moyos cups represent about 1% of the total speci- faunas from the intermontane basins of Col- Limestone, Madera Group, in the Man- mens (Kues 1985). Collections from the orado, Utah, and Arizona and show some zanita Mountains, and Kues (1996) report- Missourian–middle Virgilian sequence generic affinity with Great Basin Pennsyl- ed two crinoid cups from the Missouri- north of Jemez Springs (localities 3 and 4) vanian faunas. They indicate seaway connec- an–Virgilian part of the Madera Group in are derived partly from BSK collections, tions were open, although perhaps intermit- the Jemez Springs area. but mainly from isolated specimens col- tently, throughout the Pennsylvanian Combined, these seven reports include lected by various individuals over many between the intermontane basins of New crinoids from each of the five Pennsylvan- decades, beginning in the 1930s, and Mexico and midcontinent basins in Texas ian epochs and contain 22 genera, 23 placed in the UNM collections. Strati- and Oklahoma. New taxa introduced are: Lekobikocrinus n. named species, and 11 unidentified species graphic and locality information for these gen., Aaglaocrinus bowsheri n. sp., Diphuicri- (Table 1). The total diversity of the crinoids specimens is less precise than for the other nus borgesae n. sp., Goleocrinus chronici n. sp., documented in these papers is moderate, collections reported here. These specimens Metacromyocrinus cedroensis n. sp., M. szaboi but representatives of four major groups of represent an uncounted number of hours n. sp., Ulocrinus manzanitaensis n. sp., Mosco- Paleozoic crinoids are present: (1) camer- (actually days and weeks) of work by a vicrinus? rotundobasis n. sp., Endelocrinus ates, two genera; (2) disparids, one genus; number of professional geologists and stu- globularus n. sp., Neoprotencrinus gutschicki n. (3) cladids, 17 genera; and (4) flexibles, one dents. sp., Euerisocrinus tijerasensis n. sp., Apograph- genus. More than half of these (12 genera, Crinoids from the Sandia Formation in iocrinus rimosus n. sp., A. kietzkei n. sp., 12 named species, and three unnamed the Mora area of the Sangre de Cristo Metaffinocrinus noblei n. sp., Sciadiocrinus ornatus n. sp., and Paramphicrinus novamexi- species) are recognized in the fauna from Mountains (locality 25) were initially dis- canus n. sp. the upper part of the Bug Scuffle Member covered by Ray Gutschick and some of his of the Gobbler Formation (Bowsher and students in the 1950s, then collected by Introduction Strimple 1986). John Chronic and his students in the 1960s, Our collections, described here, add 14 and finally recollected by GDW in 1993. Crinoid remains are common constituents genera, 32 named species, and more than 9 Recent study of Pennsylvanian stratigra- of many Pennsylvanian marine faunas in unnamed species of crinoids to those pre- phy in this area by Baltz and Myers (1999) New Mexico, but with few exceptions, are viously recognized in Pennsylvanian strata indicates, based on fusulinid biostratigra- stem fragments or isolated ossicles rather of New Mexico. Replacing one incorrectly phy, that the boundary between the Sandia than the cups on which generic and specif- identified genus and naming two uniden- and overlying Porvenir Formation is at or ic identification are largely based. A few tified species from the earlier reports close to the Atokan–Desmoinesian bound- crinoid species have been cited in faunal brings the total to 35 genera, 55 species, ary. Therefore, the crinoids from locality 25 lists, beginning with White (1881), and sys- and more than 18 unidentified species of are considered Atokan, and probably late tematic studies, including description and Pennsylvanian crinoids (Table 1). In addi- Atokan in age. Specimens from the Gob- illustration of crinoid taxa, are likewise tion, our collections contain unidentifiable bler Formation in the Sacramento Moun- limited to a small number of papers. The loose ossicles that represent a significant tains near Alamogordo (locality 26) were first illustration of a New Mexico Pennsyl- number of additional crinoid taxa that will collected by Art Bowsher, Larry Davis, and vanian crinoid was of a cup identified as add significantly to the total if recognized GDW in 1993 and again by GDW in 1999. Cibolocrinus timidus Moore and Plummer with better material in the future. We esti- Although earlier work (Pray 1961) sug- 1940 (= Metacromyocrinus szaboi n. sp. here- mate that the loose cup plates in our col- gested that the upper part of the Gobbler in) in a master’s thesis (Szabo 1953) from lections represent a minimum of 25 addi- extended from Desmoinesian into early the Missourian part of the Madera Group tional species. Missourian time, more recent studies (e.g., from the Manzanita Mountains. Strimple The crinoids described here, except for Raatz and Simo 1998) indicate that the (1969) described a cup from the Virgilian localities 25 and 26 (Appendix 1), were col- upper Gobbler is entirely of late Des- Jemez Springs Shale Member, Madera lected mainly by BSK during the course of moinesian age, and that is the age assigned Group, north of Jemez Springs. Strimple New Mexico Pennsylvanian faunal studies to the crinoids from locality 26. (1980) described 13 taxa from the Sangre over the past 30 yrs. Although the empha- The purpose of this paper is to: (1) docu- de Cristo and Sacramento Mountains, sis of these studies was the molluscan and ment a large number of Pennsylvanian including: (1) specimens from the Mor- brachiopod components of the faunas, col- crinoids previously unknown from New rowan part of the Gobbler Formation, lecting efforts were intensive, so that all Mexico, including one new genus and 15 February 2006, Volume 28, Number 1 NEW MEXICO GEOLOGY 3 TABLE 1— Compiled list of Pennsylvanian crinoids from New Mexico. Taxa reported in previous publications (Strimple 1969, 1980; Bowsher and Strim- ple 1986; Kietzke 1990; Kues and Koubek 1991; Kues 1996) are in normal type. Taxa reported herein for the first time from New Mexico are in bold type. Subclass Camerata: Ulocrinus? sp. Family Acrocrinidae Cromyocrinids indeterminate Planacrocrinus ambix Moore and Strimple 1969 Famly Erisocrinidae Family Platycrinitidae: Erisocrinus typus Meek and Worthen 1865. Bowsher and Platycrinites nactus Bowsher and Strimple 1986. Late Strimple 1986. Late Desmoinesian Desmoinesian Erisocrinus aff. erectus Moore and Plummer 1940. Bowsher Exsulacrinus alleni Bowsher and Strimple 1986. Late and Strimple 1986. Late Desmoinesian Desmoinesian Erisocrinus obovatus (Moore and Plummer 1940) Subclass Disparida: Euerisocrinus tijerasensis n. sp. Family Allagecrinidae Euerisocrinus gordoplatus n. sp. Kallimorphocrinus sp. Kietzke 1990. Desmoinesian Erisocrinid indeterminate Kallimorphocrinus bassleri Strimple 1938 Family Protencrinidae Subclass Cladida: Neoprotencrinus subplanus (Moore and Plummer 1940) Family Codiacrinidae Neoprotencrinus gutschicki n. sp. Lecythiocrinus sp. cf. L. optimus Strimple 1951. Strimple Protencrinus mutabilis Knapp 1969 1980. Morrowan Family Catacrinidae Lecythiocrinus sacculus Bowsher and Strimple 1986. Late Delocrinus subhemisphericus Moore and Plummer 1940 Desmoinesian Delocrinus ponderosus Strimple 1949 Family Blothrocrinidae Delocrinus spp. Moscovicrinus? rotundobasis n. sp. Endelocrinus bifidus Moore and Plummer 1940. Bowsher Elibatocrinus? sp. and Strimple 1986. Late Desmoinesian Family Laudonocrinidae Endelocrinus perasper Bowsher and Strimple 1986. Late Anchicrinus planulatus Moore and

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