Early Middle Ordovician Corals from Western Utah

Two species from western Utah are among the oldest known corals from North America. The older of the two, Lichenaria simplex (?) (Bassler) is cerioid with small corallites that lack both septae and, tabulae. It is described from two small specimens from the Lehman Formation of the Ibex area where it occurs in the Whiterockian Pseudoolenoides acicauda trilobite zone (Zone N). The younger species, Eofletcheria utahia n. sp. ranges from cerioid and phaceloid to dendroid, lacks septae, but has well defined complete tabulae. It seems likely that E. utahia has been identified in faunal listings from western U.S. Middle Ordovician occurrences both as Lichenaria and as Eofletcheria depending on the portion of the colony that was examined. Eofletcheria utahia is the most common fossil in the Crystal Peak Dolomite in western Utah. It occurs there with the brachiopods Kirkina millardensis Salmon and Orthambonites perplexus Ross in Zone 0 of Hintze. Conodonts from zone o indicate that it is Chazyan