Paleobiogeographic patterns in Late Mississippian trilobites of the United States with new species from Montana

Abstract

Two new species of trilobites, Weberides chamberlaini new species and Weberides samwaysi new species, are described from the Heath Formation (Serpukhovian, Mississippian) of Montana. Based upon phylogenetic analysis, the assignment of these species to the genus Weberides represents the first recognition of this genus in North America. Brooks Parsimony Analysis of the single phylogenetic tree suggests that the northern Cordillera acted as an ancestral area for the typically European genus Weberides. Thus, the North American vicariants of Weberides share a common ancestral area with the genus Paladin. Vicariance patterns suggest that interchange with the type Weberides areas of Europe was through the northern Cordilleran region rather than through the Rheic Ocean, as others have suggested.