A REVIEW OF PALEOZOIC FISH FROM THE MINNEKAHTA LIMESTONE OF THE BLACK HILLS, SOUTH DAKOTA AND WYOMING

The Permian-aged Minnekahta Limestone represents a shallow marine environment, from which scarce fossils have been found. Since the early 1900’s, upwards of fifty specimens of fossil fish have been collected and subsequently housed in the collections of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. However, to date, only one such fossil has been described. There is currently no comprehensive record of the fossil fish fauna of the Minnekahta Limestone. This study seeks to identify what species are present and compare the faunal list with similar fossil environments of the same age. So far, identified genera include the paleoniscoids Acrolepis and Platysomus, as well as a possible elasmobranch shark. Mamayocaris (Malacostraca: Mysidacea) is also found in association with the fish remains, and had previously been erroneously attributed to the underlying Opeche Shale.