{{Short description|Geologic formation in Utah notable for trilobite fossils}} {{Infobox rockunit | image = ElrathiakingiUtahWheelerCambrian.jpg | caption = ''Elrathia kingii'', famed trilobite of the Wheeler Shale. | type = Geological formation | period = Cambrian | age = <br />Middle Cambrian<br />~{{fossil range|507}} | prilithology = Calcareous shale | otherlithology = Mudstone, shaley limestone and limestone | namedfor = House Amphitheater (Geographic feature and type locality) | namedby = Charles Doolittle Walcott | region = House Range and Drum Mountains, Millard Co., west Utah | country = United States | coordinates = {{coord|39.25|N|113.33|W|region:US-UT_type:landmark_source:dewiki}} | unitof = | subunits = | thickness = {{convert|100|-|200|m|ft|abbr=on}} | extent = | area = }} {{CEXNAV}} The '''Wheeler Shale''' (named by Charles Walcott) is a Cambrian ({{circa}} 507 Ma) fossil locality world-famous<ref name=Johnson&Troll>{{citation |last1=Johnson |first1=Kirk |last2=Troll|first2= Ray|year=2007 |title=Cruising the fossil freeway: An epoch tale of a scientist and an artist on the ultimate 5,000-Mile paleo road trip|publisher=Fulcrum Publishing |location= Golden, CO. |isbn = 978-1-55591-451-6}}</ref> for prolific agnostid and ''Elrathia kingii'' trilobite remains (even though many areas are barren of fossils)<ref name="Gaines&Droser03">{{Citation |journal=Geology |title=Paleoecology of the familiar trilobite Elrathia kingii: An early exaerobic zone inhabitant |author1=Robert R. Gaines |author2=Mary L. Droser |year=2003 |url=http://earthsciences.ucr.edu/docs/Gaines&Droser_2003.pdf |volume=31 |pages=941–4 |doi=10.1130/G19926.1 |issue=11 |bibcode = 2003Geo....31..941G }}</ref> and represents a Konzentrat-Lagerstätte. Varied soft bodied organisms are locally preserved, a fauna (including ''Naraoia'', ''Wiwaxia'' and ''Hallucigenia'') and preservation style (carbonaceous film) normally associated with the more famous Burgess Shale.<ref name="Gaines2008"> {{Citation |journal=Geology |title=Cambrian Burgess Shale–type deposits share a common mode of fossilization |author=Robert R. Gaines |author2=Derek E.G. Briggs |author3=Zhao Yuanlong |year=2008 |doi=10.1130/G24961A.1 |volume=36 |pages=755–758 |issue=10 |bibcode=2008Geo....36..755G }}</ref> As such, the Wheeler Shale also represents a Konservat-Lagerstätten.<ref name=Gaines2005>{{Citation | doi = 10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.07.034 | title = A New Hypothesis for Organic Preservation of Burgess Shale Taxa in the Middle Cambrian Wheeler Formation, House Range, Utah | year = 2005 | author = Gaines, R | journal = Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology | volume = 220 | pages = 193–205 | last2 = Kennedy | first2 = M | last3 = Droser | first3 = M | issue = 1–2 | bibcode = 2005PPP...220..193G }}</ref>
Together with the Marjum Formation and lower Weeks Formation, the Wheeler Shale forms {{convert|490|to|610|m|ft|abbr=on}} of limestone and shale exposed in one of the thickest, most fossiliferous and best exposed sequences of Middle Cambrian rocks in North America.<ref name=Robison1964>{{citation |last1=Robison |first1=R.A. |journal = Journal of Paleontology | year = 1964 | volume = 38 | url = http://jpaleontol.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/38/3/510 | pages = 510–566 | title= Late Middle Cambrian faunas from western Utah |issue=3}}</ref>
At the type locality of Wheeler Amphitheater, House Range, Millard County, western Utah, the Wheeler Shale consists of a heterogeneous succession of highly calcareous shale, shaley limestone, mudstone and thin, flaggy limestone.<ref name="Guntherx2" /> The Wheeler Formation (although the Marjum & Weeks Formations are missing) extends into the Drum Mountains, northwest of the House Range where similar fossils and preservation are found.<ref name="Guntherx2" />
==Taphonomy and sedimentology== {{further|Burgess Shale-type preservation}} thumb|''Asaphiscus wheeleri'', Cambrian, Wheeler shale, Utah [[Image:Emeraldella brocki.jpg|thumb|''Emeraldella brocki'' an arthropod From the Burgess Shale]]
Detailed work recognises a number of ~10 m thick lagerstätten sequences in the formation, each of which formed at a sea-level highstand<ref name=p32009>{{Cite journal| last2 = Allison| first1 = C. E.| first2 = P. A.| last3 = Desantis| last4 = Liddell| last5 = Kramer | first3 = M. K.| first4 = W. D.| first5 = A.| title = Sequence stratigraphy, cyclic facies, and lagerstätten in the Middle Cambrian Wheeler and Marjum Formations, Great Basin, Utah| journal = Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology| volume = 277| pages = 9–33| year = 2009| last1 = Brett| issue = 1–2| doi = 10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.02.010| bibcode = 2009PPP...277....9B }}</ref> in deep water.<ref name=Halgedahl2009>{{Cite journal| last3 = Brett | first1 = S. L. | first2 = R. D.| first3 = C. E.| last2 = Jarrard| first4 = P. A. | title = Geophysical and geological signatures of relative sea level change in the upper Wheeler Formation, Drum Mountains, West-Central Utah: A perspective into exceptional preservation of fossils| last4 = Allison| journal = Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology| volume = 277| issue = 1–2| pages = 34–56 | year = 2009| last1 = Halgedahl | author-link1 = Susan Halgedahl|doi = 10.1016/j.palaeo.2009.02.011| bibcode = 2009PPP...277...34H }}</ref> The lagerstätte were deposited by turbidities and mudslides onto an oxygenated sea floor.<ref name=p32009/> The productive layers comprise mud and clay particles, with a tiny fraction of wind-blown quartz.<ref name="Gaines2005a">{{Cite journal | last1 = Gaines | first1 = R. R. | last2 = Kennedy | first2 = M. J. | last3 = Droser | first3 = M. L. | title = A new hypothesis for organic preservation of Burgess Shale taxa in the middle Cambrian Wheeler Formation, House Range, Utah | doi = 10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.07.034 | journal = Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology | volume = 220 | pages = 193–205 | year = 2005 | issue = 1–2 | bibcode = 2005PPP...220..193G }}</ref>
== Stratigraphy ==
The Wheeler Shale spans the ''Ptychagnostus atavus''<ref name=Lieberman2002>{{Cite journal| last1 = Lieberman | first1 = B. S.| title = A New Soft-Bodied Fauna: the Pioche Formation of Nevada| journal = Journal of Paleontology| volume = 77| issue = 4| pages = 674–690| year = 2003| issn = 0022-3360| doi = 10.1666/0022-3360(2003)077<0674:ANSFTP>2.0.CO;2| s2cid = 130145927}}</ref> and uppermost-Middle Cambrian ''Bolaspidella'' trilobite zones (See House Range for full stratigraphy).
==Fauna{{anchor|Burgess Shale-type fauna}}== [[Image:Stanleycaris_sp._KUMIP_153923.png|thumb|''Stanleycaris'' sp. from Wheeler shale, originally described as ''Aysheaia prolata'']] {{main|Burgess Shale-type fauna}} Incomplete list of the fauna of the Wheeler Shale:<ref name=Guntherx2>{{citation |last1=Gunther |first1=L.F. |last2=Gunther |first2=V.G. |year=1981 |title=Some Middle Cambrian Fossils of Utah |journal=Brigham Young University Geology Studies |volume=28 |pages=1–81}}</ref><ref name=Briggs1984>{{Citation |author1=Briggs, D.E.G. |author2=Robison, R.A. | title = Exceptionally preserved nontrilobite arthropods and Anomalocaris from the Middle Cambrian of Utah | year = 1984 | url = http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/handle/1808/3656 | publisher = The Paleontological Institute, The University of Kansas}}</ref><ref>[http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/cambrian/house.html Photos of Wheeler Shale fossils from UC Berkeley]</ref><ref name=Rigby78>{{citation |last1=Rigby |first1=J.K. |journal = Journal of Paleontology | year = 1978 | volume = 52 | pages = 1325–1345 | title= Porifera of the Middle Cambrian Wheeler Shale, from the Wheeler Amphitheater, House Range, in western Utah |issue= 6 |jstor=1303938 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kumip.ku.edu/cambrianlife |title=Utah's Cambrian Life from University of Kansas Natural History Museum |access-date=2008-12-04 |archive-date=2011-07-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719222834/http://www.kumip.ku.edu/cambrianlife/ }}</ref><ref>[http://www.earth.utah.edu/utahfossil.html Cambrian fossils from Utah by the University of Utah]{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>[http://www.fossilmuseum.net/Cambrian-Explosion/Utah-Cambrian-Explosion.htm Comprehensive treatment from The Virtual Fossil Museum]</ref> (Note: the preservation of hard bodied trilobite remains and soft bodied animals seems to be mutually exclusive within particular horizons.)<ref name="Gaines2005" /><ref name=Gainesetal2001>{{citation | last1 = Gaines | first1=Robert R. | last2= Droser | first2= Mary L. | last3= Kennedy |first3= Martin J. |year= 2001 |title=Taphonomy of soft-bodied preservation and ptychopariid Lagerstätte in the Wheeler Shale (Middle Cambrian), House Range, USA; controls and implications |journal= PaleoBios | volume= 21 (Suppl.2) | pages=1–55 |url=http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/napc/abs9.html}}</ref>
<!--Please keep all the species in alphabetical order-->
===Protista=== *''Marpolia spissa'' - cyanobacteria or green algae *''Morania fragmenta'' - cyanobacteria
===Arthropoda=== *''Alalcomenaeus cambricus'' - megacheiran *''Branchiocaris pretiosa'' - hymenocarine *''Branchiocaris sp''. *''Cambropodus gracilis'' - possible myriapod *''Canadaspis perfecta'' - hymenocarine *''Dicerocaris opisthoeces'' *''Dicranocaris guntherorum'' - possible megacheiran? *''Emeraldella brocki'' - vicissicaudatan *''Isoxys'' *''Leanchoilia superlata'' - megacheiran *''Megachelicerax'' - chelicerate<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lerosey-Aubril |first=Rudy |last2=Ortega-Hernández |first2=Javier |date=2026-04-01 |title=A chelicera-bearing arthropod reveals the Cambrian origin of chelicerates |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10284-2 |journal=Nature |language=en |pages=1–7 |doi=10.1038/s41586-026-10284-2 |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free }}</ref> *''Mollisonia symmetrica'' - mollisoniid chelicerate<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lerosey‐Aubril |first=Rudy |last2=Kimmig |first2=Julien |last3=Pates |first3=Stephen |last4=Skabelund |first4=Jacob |last5=Weug |first5=Andries |last6=Ortega‐Hernández |first6=Javier |date=2020-04-23 |editor-last=Zhang |editor-first=Xi‐Guang |title=New exceptionally preserved panarthropods from the Drumian Wheeler Konservat‐Lagerstätte of the House Range of Utah |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/spp2.1307 |journal=Papers in Palaeontology |language=en |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=501–531 |doi=10.1002/spp2.1307 |issn=2056-2799|url-access=subscription }}</ref> *''Perspicaris dilatus'' hymenocarine *''Pseudoarctolepis sharpi'' - possible hymenocarine *''Sidneyia inexpectans'' - vicissicaudatan *''Tuzoia''? ''peterseni'' - hymenocarine *''Waptia'' ''fieldensis'' - hymenocarine
==== Dinocaridida ==== *''Amplectobelua'' cf. ''A. stephenensis'' – radiodont<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Pates |first1=Stephen |last2=Lerosey-Aubril |first2=Rudy |last3=Daley |first3=Allison C. |last4=Kier |first4=Carlo |last5=Bonino |first5=Enrico |last6=Ortega-Hernández |first6=Javier |date=2021-01-19 |title=The diverse radiodont fauna from the Marjum Formation of Utah, USA (Cambrian: Drumian) |journal=PeerJ |language=en |volume=9 |article-number=e10509 |doi=10.7717/peerj.10509 |issn=2167-8359 |pmc=7821760 |pmid=33552709 |doi-access=free }}</ref> *Anomalocarididae gen. et sp. nov. - radiodont<ref name=":0" /> *''Buccaspinea cooperi''? - radiodont<ref name=":0" /> *''Caryosyntrips durus'' - radiodont<ref name=":0" /> *''Caryosyntrips serratus'' - radiodont<ref name=":0" /> *''Peytoia nathorsti'' - radiodont<ref name=":0" /> *''Pahvantia hastata'' - radiodont<ref name=":0" /> *''Stanleycaris'' sp. - radiodont<ref name=":0" /> *''Utahnax vannieri'' - kerygmachelid lobopodian, possibly from Marjum Formation<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lerosey‐Aubril |first1=Rudy |last2=Ortega‐Hernández |first2=Javier |date=2022 |editor-last=Zhang |editor-first=Xi‐Guang |title=A new lobopodian from the middle Cambrian of Utah: did swimming body flaps convergently evolve in stem‐group arthropods? |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/spp2.1450 |journal=Papers in Palaeontology |language=en |volume=8 |issue=3 |doi=10.1002/spp2.1450 |s2cid=250076505 |issn=2056-2799|url-access=subscription }}</ref> *''Utaurora comosa -'' opabiniid<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pates |first1=Stephen |last2=Wolfe |first2=Joanna M. |last3=Lerosey-Aubril |first3=Rudy |last4=Daley |first4=Allison C. |last5=Ortega-Hernández |first5=Javier |date=2022-02-09 |title=New opabiniid diversifies the weirdest wonders of the euarthropod stem group |journal=Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=289 |issue=1968 |article-number=20212093 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2021.2093 |pmc=8826304 |pmid=35135344}}</ref>
====Trilobita==== *''Naraoia compacta'' - naraoiid nectaspid *''Hypagnostus parvifrons'' - agnostid *''Peronopsis amplaxis'' - peronopsid agnostid *''Peronopsis bidens'' *''Peronopsis fallax'' *''Peronopsis gaspensis'' *''Peronopsis intermedius'' *''Peronopsis interstrictus'' *''Peronopsis montis'' *''Peronopsis segmentis'' *''Ptychagnostus atavus'' (= ''Acidusus atavus'') - ptychagnostid agnostid *''Ptychagnostus germanus'' *''Ptychagnostus gibbus'' *P''tychagnostus intermedius'' *''Ptychagnostus michaeli'' *''Ptychagnostus occultatus'' *''Ptychagnostus seminula'' *''Glyphaspis concavus'' - asaphid *''Bathyuriscus fimbriatus'' - dolichometopid corynexochid *''Bathyuriscus sp.'' *''Kootenia sp.'' - dorypygid corynexochid, perhaps a synonym of ''Olenoides'' *''Olenoides expansus'' - dorypygid corynexochid *''Olenoides nevadensis'' *''Olenoides serratus'' *''Tonkinella breviceps'' *''Zacanthoides divergens'' - zacanthoidid corynexochid *''Zacanthoides sp.'' *''Altiocculus harrisi'' - ptychopariid (specific name may be confused with ''Alokistocare'') *''Alokistocare harrisi'' - alokistocarid ptychopariid *''Asaphiscus wheeleri'' - ptychopariid; second-most common species in the formation *''Bathyocos housensis'' - ptychopariid *''Bolaspidella drumensis'' *''Bolaspidella housensis'' *''Bolaspidella sp.'' *''Bolaspidella wellsvillensis'' *''Brachyaspidion microps'' *''Brachyaspidion sulcatum'' *''Cedaria minor'' - known from the Warrior Formation *''Elrathia kingii'' - alokistocarid ptychopariid *''Elrathia sp.'' *''Elrathina wheeleri'' = ''Ptychoparella wheeleri''? - ptychopariid *''Jenkinsonia varga'' *''Modocia brevispina'' *''Modocia laevinucha'' *''Modocia typicalis'' *''Ptychoparella sp.'' - ptychopariid *''Ptychoparella wheeleri'' *''Spencella sp.'' - ptychopariid
===Brachiopoda=== *''Acrothele subsidua''
===Chordata=== *''Hertzina sp.'' - conodont
===Cnidaria=== *''Cambromedusa sp.'' - jellyfish
===Mollusca=== *''Pelagiella sp.'' - pelagiellid helcionelloid
===Echinodermata=== *''Castericystis sprinklei'' - solute *''Castericystis sp.'' *''Cothurnocystis sp.'' - stylophoran *''Ctenocystis sp.'' - ctenocystoid *''Gogia spiralis'' - eocrinoid *Eocrinoid holdfasts believed to belong to ''Gogia spiralis''; may belong to other species
===Porifera=== *''Choia carteri'' - choiid protomonaxonid demosponge *''Choia utahensis'' *''Crumillospongia sp.'' - hazeliid protomonaxonid demosponge *''Diagonella sp.''
===Priapulida=== *''Ottoia prolifica'' - archaeopriapulid *''Selkirkia sp.'' - archaeopriapulid *''Selkirkia willoughbyi''- archaeopriapulid
===Unclassified=== *''Hallucigenia sparsa'' - hallucigeniid lobopod *''Allonnia'' cf. ''tintinopsis'' - a chancelloriid<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Foster |first1=John R. |last2=Howells |first2=Thomas F. |last3=Sroka |first3=Steven D. |date=2022 |title=First record of the chancelloriid Allonnia from the middle Cambrian Wheeler Formation (Drumian, Miaolingian) of western Utah |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/03b3j605 |journal=PaleoBios |language=en |volume=39 |issue=4 |doi=10.5070/P939455661 |s2cid=251544727 |issn=0031-0298|doi-access=free }}</ref> *''Chancelloria pentacta'' - chancelloriid *''Eldonia sp.'' - eldoniid cambroernid *''Skeemella clavula'' - Possible vetulicolian *''Hylolithellus sp.'' - annelid? *''Wiwaxia corrugata'' - halwaxiid? lophotrochozoan *''Yuknessia simplex'' - pterobranch *''Margaretia dorus'' - tube associated with the hemichordate ''Oesia''<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Nanglu|first1=Karma|last2=Caron|first2=Jean-Bernard|last3=Conway Morris|first3=Simon|last4=Cameron|first4=Christopher B.|date=2016-07-07|title=Cambrian suspension-feeding tubicolous hemichordates|journal=BMC Biology|volume=14|page=56|doi=10.1186/s12915-016-0271-4|issn=1741-7007|pmc=4936055|pmid=27383414 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
== References == {{reflist|2}}
{{Burgess shale type preservation}} {{Cambrian preservational modes}}
Category:Wheeler Shale Category:Geologic formations of Utah Category:Cambrian System of North America Category:Cambrian geology of Utah Category:Paleontology in Utah Category:Lagerstätten