NEW FINDINGS ON AN ORDOVICIAN TRILOBITE ASSEMBLAGE FROM SOUTHWEST ROANOKE COUNTY, VA: A GEOMETRIC MORPHOMETRIC STUDY OF AMPYXINA POWELLI

Ampyxina powelli is a small (~1 cm long) and rare species of trilobite whose evolutionary connections and developmental stages to other ‘related’ trilobites are relatively unknown. This species has a rather limited range, and as a result, has been the subject to very few studies in the last forty years. Recently, one of the few localities where A. powelli has been found, the Tucker Farmhouse locality in southwest Roanoke County, VA, is again being sampled and analyzed. To better understand A. powelli’s the evolutionary placement within Trilobita, and its developmental history, specimens have been analyzed using advanced morphometric and statistical techniques. Additionally, newly found taxa (including graptolites, gastropods, and Tentaculites) at the Tucker Farmhouse locality will be combined with the morphologic trilobite findings, contributing to our understanding of this region’s local Ordovician paleoecology.