Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 August 2017
In addition to ammonoids and conodonts, the enigmatic and poorly understood “flat clams” belonging to the genera Enteropleura Kittl, 1912, Daonella Mojsisovics, 1874, Halobia Bronn, 1830, and Monotis Bronn, 1830 have proven to be of biochronologic value through the Middle and Upper Triassic (e.g., Silberling and Nichols, 1982; Brack and Rieber, 1993; Campbell, 1994; McRoberts, 1997). These “flat clams,” many belonging to the family Halobiidae, can be extremely abundant in the marine Triassic rocks of the former Panthalassic Ocean and especially the Tethyan Seaway, where many of these species were first described. Their widespread nature and high speciation rates make these bivalves exceptional biochronologic indicators, especially when integrated with the temporal distribution of other, more conventional indices such as ammonoids and/or conodonts. We describe and name a poorly documented halobiid species, Enteropleura jenksi n. sp., from the latest middle Anisian and therefore provide a robust correlation datum for the Shoshonensis Zone.