Linguliform Brachiopods from the Middle Cambrian ‘Thick’ Stephen Formation at Odaray Mountain, Canadian Rocky Mountains

Abstract: The linguliform brachiopod fauna from the Stephen Formation have long been thought to be very species poor and only consist of a few genera, but new discoveries from lime-stone beds in the “thick” Stephen Formation shows that this is not the case. The species described herein, Kyrshabaktella cf. tatjanae and Ceratreta hansi sp. nov., are two new additions to described species and genera of the area.The specimens come from a 0.6 meters thick limestone bed, approximately 17 meter above the base of the formation in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, British Columbia, Yoho National Park a few kilometers SSE from Odaray Mountain. The specimens where retained from the rock by dissolution in diluted formic acid for a few days and later coated with a palladium-gold alloy and photographed under a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).In addition to the widen knowledge that these specimens of K. cf. tatjanae and C. hansi brings to the paleoecology of the area the two species also expands the knowledge of their families and genera. The coarse filae ornamentation on the exterior shell of K. cf. tatjanae requires the revision of the diagnosis of the family Kyrshabaktellidae and the discovery of the new species C. hansi expands the stratigraphic range of the genus Ceratreta to the middle Cambrian.