BRACHIOPODS OF THE CONASAUGA FORMATION, MIDDLE CAMBRIAN OF NORTHWESTERN GEORGIA: A COMPILATION AND CORRELATION ACROSS THE CONTINENT

The Middle Cambrian strata of the Conasauga Formation in northwestern Georgia contain trilobite assemblages which have been correlated with the western USA, notably in the Swazy and Wheeler Shales in the Great Basin, and the Wolsey Shale in Montana. Some Conasauga horizons also share trilobites and soft-bodied taxa with the upper Burgess Shale biota in British Columbia. Brachiopods in the Conasauga Fm., however, although abundant, have not been recently compiled nor have they been correlated with the western USA. We report here a few key inarticulate and articulate brachiopods in the Conasauga which may be compared to Great Basin and Rocky Mountain taxa. These include species of the inarticulates Acrothyra, Lingulella, Micromitra, and Paterina, the articulate Nisusia and a rare orthide, Wimanella aurialis, with one of the earliest mucronate morphologies.