Article: Silurian trilobites from the Annascaul inlier, Dingle Peninsula, Ireland
Publication: Palaeontology
Volume:
32
Part:
1
Publication Date:
January
1989
Page(s):
109
–
161
Author(s):
Derek J. Siveter
Abstract
The richest and best-preserved Silurian trilobite fauna to have been discovered from Ireland, from two localities in the Annascaul inlier, County Kerry, is described. The specimens belong to eight families, thirteen genera, and sixteen species. Five species are new: Interproetus galvani, Conoparia hollandi, Calymene endemopsis, Primaspis mendica, and Leonaspis parkini. The precise age of the two limestone lenses which yielded the material is uncertain, but it is likely that they fall within a mid-Wedlock to mid-Ludlow time interval, with several faunal elements indicating a late Wenlock age. The restricted fauna from one of the localities is typical of the illaenid-cheirurid assemblage which typifies shallow water, nearshore carbonate environments; the much richer fauna from the second locality may have inhabited a slightly more offshore, open water position. At the generic level the fauna is cosmopolitan; at the specific level links are evident with the Welsh Borderland (in particular), Bohemia, and Scandinavia.