Cambrian trilobites from Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica, and their stratigraphic implications

Abstract

Abstract Fifty‐four trilobite taxa from 15 new localities in the Bowers Terrane of Northern Victoria Land, including the first fossils from Molar Formation, are described. The fossils indicate an age range from late Middle Cambrian (Boomerangian or older) to mid Late Cambrian (late Idamean). At Reilly Ridge, the Spurs Formation crops out in a number of fault‐bounded slices; the new fossils indicate marked lateral facies contrasts between slices and suggest considerable lateral displacement along the bounding faults. At Houliston Glacier, trilobites of Mindyallan age in Molar Formation imply that the boundary between the Molar and Spurs Formations is strongly time transgressive. New species described in this paper are Reillopleura braddocki gen. et sp. nov. and Notoaphelaspis horizontalis sp. nov. Faunal affinities are mainly with the Ellsworth Mountains (West Antarctica), western Queensland, and China.