Kielcelepis, Dzik, 2002

Dzik, Jerzy, 2002, Emergence and collapse of the Frasnian conodont and ammonoid communities in the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 47 (4), pp. 565-650 : 605-606

Genus Kielcelepis nov.

Type species: Palmatolepis ljashenkoae Ovnatanova, 1976 .

Diagnosis.—Palmatolepidids with primitively biramous symmetrical elements of the apparatus bearing almost straight processes; M (ne) elements with narrow angle between processes, basally bent dorsal process of the P 1 (sp) element.

Remarks.—The medial process of symmetrical elements gradually disappeared in the course of evolution from Mesotaxis to Kielcelepis gen. nov. and bifurcated at transition to Manticolepis and Lagovilepis gen. nov. In populations of transitional species a significant variability of these characters can be expected. Still, the observed range of variability of the ramiform elements and its overlap with related species is much lower than in platform elements. Both generic and species identification is generally not possible in Frasnian palmatolepidids without consulting the apparatus structure.

Species included.—The type species, K. hassi (Müller and Müller, 1957) , and K.? jamieae ( Ziegler and Sandberg, 1990).