Abstract
AbstractThe fossil record of octocorals from Cenozoic marine strata of western North America is quite limited, and they have not been reported previously from rocks in Washington State, USA. Two late Oligocene specimens from the upper part of the Lincoln Creek Formation in western Washington, referred to Radicipes? sp., are the first fossil record of the family Chrysogorgiidae. The family Isididae is represented by an internode and two holdfasts identified as Isidella sp. collected from the Oligocene Pysht Formation, along with specimens questionably identified as Lepidisis sp., possibly the first fossil record for this genus. Together, these are the first confirmed fossils of the Alcyonacea from north of California in western North America. The axes of sea pens from several late Eocene or early Oligocene localities in the Lincoln Creek Formation in the central part of western Washington, and the Pysht and Makah formations on the north side of the Olympic Peninsula, are the first fossil record for the Pennatulacea from western North America; all are tentatively referred to the genus ‘Graphularia’. Large axes from the Lincoln Creek Formation and Makah Formation are referred to ‘Graphularia’ (?) aff. sasai, because they are similar to the species known only from late Eocene and early Oligocene rocks in Japan.
Highlights
Cenozoic fossils of octocorals, primarily bamboo corals and sea pens, have long been recognized from many parts of the world (e.g., Europe: Nielsen, 1917; Bałuk and Pisera, 1984; Langer, 1989; Lauridsen and Bjerager, 2014; Australia and New Zealand: McCoy, 1877; Tate, 1877; Squires, 1958; Eagle, 2007; and eastern North America: Hickson, 1938; Shapiro and Ramsdell, 1965; Kocurko, 1993, and references therein)
The family Isididae is represented by an internode and two holdfasts identified as Isidella sp. collected from the Oligocene Pysht Formation, along with specimens questionably identified as Lepidisis sp., possibly the first fossil record for this genus
The axes of sea pens from several late Eocene or early Oligocene localities in the Lincoln Creek Formation in the central part of western Washington, and the Pysht and Makah formations on the north side of the Olympic Peninsula, are the first fossil record for the Pennatulacea from western North America; all are tentatively referred to the genus ‘Graphularia’
Summary
Primarily bamboo corals and sea pens, have long been recognized from many parts of the world (e.g., Europe: Nielsen, 1917; Bałuk and Pisera, 1984; Langer, 1989; Lauridsen and Bjerager, 2014; Australia and New Zealand: McCoy, 1877; Tate, 1877; Squires, 1958; Eagle, 2007; and eastern North America: Hickson, 1938; Shapiro and Ramsdell, 1965; Kocurko, 1993, and references therein). The oldest unequivocal Cenozoic octocoral fossils from western North America and the North Pacific Basin are from rocks of latest Paleocene or earliest Eocene age in the upper part of the Santa Susana Formation in the Simi Valley, southern California, that were identified by Squires (1999) as ?Mopsea sp., aff. This is the only previous fossil record of the family Isididae Lamouroux, 1812, from western North America. Squires and Demetrion (1992) reported two octocorals from shallow-marine Eocene (51–52 Ma) strata of the Bateque Formation in Baja California Sur, Mexico. A small fossil questionably identified (Armentrout, 1974) as ?Callogoria [sic] sp. (=Callogorgia Gray, 1870; Family Primnoidae Milne-Edwards, 1857) from the late Oligocene uppermost part of the Lincoln Creek Formation, Canyon River, Washington, has not been formally published, and we have been unable to further evaluate the record
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