316 Ostracodes of the “Winifrede Limestone” (Middle Pennsylvanian) in the region of the proposed Pennsylvanian System stratotype, West Virginia

The Weinifrede Limestone of R. V. Hennen occurs in the upper one-third of the Kanawha Formation in central and southern West Virginia. This thin calcareous, fossiliferous shale represents one of the most widespread marine incursions into the central Appalachian basin during the Middle Pennsylvanian. Collections of invertebrate fossils from this marine tongue contain 24 taxa of marine ostracodes assigned herein to 19 genera, one of which, Amphissites Girty, 1910, includes the new subgenus A. (Amphikegelites). The following taxa are new: A. (Amphikegelites) henryi, Bairdiolites astigmaticus, Cavellinella? Pricei, Kirkbyella (Berdanella) ricei, “Microparaparchites” reductospinosus, Monoceratina winifredeana, Plavskela englundi, Pseudobythocypris? Enigmatica, and Shishaella saundersi. All new species, previously described species, and species referred to in open nomenclature in this study are present also in rocks of Atokan age in one or more of the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas. Except for Cavellinella? pricei n. sp., Moorites minutus (Warthin, 1930)? and Shishaella saundersi n. sp., all the taxa are present in rocks of Atokan age either in the Magoffin Member of the Breathitt Formation or above the Hindman coal bed of the Breathitt Formation in Eastern Kentucky. On the basis of known stratigraphic ranges of the ostracode species in states other than West Virginia, the Winifrede Limestone of Hennen correlates with the Atokan Provincial Series of the Midcontinent; the ostracode data verify each assignment of this marine tongue that is based on the macrofauna.

Year published: 1983