TL;DR: The uppermost Ordovician (Hirnantian) trilobite fauna of the High Mains Formation in the Craighead Inlier near Girvan comprises species of Flexicalymene, Achatella, Hemiarges, Isotelus and an indeterminate proetid as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The uppermost Ordovician (Hirnantian) trilobite fauna of the High Mains Formation in the Craighead Inlier near Girvan comprises species of Flexicalymene, Achatella, Hemiarges, Isotelus and an indeterminate proetid. All are illustrated and the first three including Hemiarges extremus sp. nov. are described. This is one of the most diverse Hirnantian trilobite assemblages known. The beginning of the Hirnantian marked a profound global decrease in trilobite diversity and an overall increase in endemicity with many genera persisting only as local relicts. Many faunas include a dalmanitid (Mucronaspis or Dalmanitina) and the absence of this family suggests a shallow shelf environment for the High Mains fauna which comprises relicts of earlier lineages in the area. Some genera have yet to be discovered in the Hirnantian, but are recorded from both older and younger strata. Like many of the known Hirnantian taxa, they must have survived in localised faunas before becoming widespread again in the Silurian. Limited evidence suggests that the spread of cold/deep water trilobites, notably Mucronaspis / Dalmanitina, on to low latitude shelves preceded the major trilobite extinction at the Rawtheyan-Hirnantian boundary, but this would still be within the timescale suggested by other workers for a rapid onset of the late Ordovician glaciation and the consequent ecological disruption.
TL;DR: The Ashgillian Pabos Formation underlies the White Head Formation and consists, in the immediate Perce area, of 21 trilobite taxa, of which 11 are left in open nomenclature, four of which are summarily described, commented upon, and illustrated as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Ashgillian Pabos Formation underlies the Ashgillian-Llandoverian White Head Formation and consists, in the immediate Perce area, of 21 trilobite taxa. Of these, 11 are left in open nomenclature, four of which are summarily described, commented upon, and illustrated. Ten species are specifically determined and three of these are new: Remopleurides arenosus, Achatella (Achatella) clivosa, and Meadowtownella sacerdos. Hibbertia whittingtoni (McNamara, 1979) is a junior secondary homonym and renamed H. conistonensis. The Ashgillian-Llandoverian cheirurines of the Perce area are reviewed and new generic assignments suggested; these are a major component of the Pabos trilobite fauna. Revision of Ceraurinus icarus, a widely distributed North American species, shows its inherent variability; limits of variation, more complete descriptions, and stratigraphic distribution of most previously described species are also given. The distinctive trinucleid Novaspis elevata occurs in the Pabos, outside the immediate Perce area. Almost all of the Pabos trilobites are also present in the coeval Grande Coupe beds of the Matapedia Group; otherwise they are a mixture of taxa with greatest faunal affinities with North American or northwestern European taxa of the same age.
TL;DR: Lesperance and Weissenberger as discussed by the authors showed that Achatella is present in Sandbian-Katian strata of the Laurentian terranes of Scotland and Northern Ireland, although only three of these are known well enough to code for phylogenetic analysis.
Abstract: . Study of type and new material of the pterygometopine Achatella Delo, 1935 demonstrates the presence of four species in Upper Ordovician (Katian) strata of Laurentian North America, A. achates (Billings, 1860) from the northeastern United States and the St. Lawrence lowlands of Canada, A. carleyi (Meek, 1872) from the Cincinnati region, Ohio and Kentucky, A. katharina (Bradley, 1930), from Missouri and Oklahoma, and A. clivosa Lesperance and Weissenberger, 1998 from the Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec. Perhaps as many as five additional species are present in Sandbian—Katian strata of the Laurentian terranes of Scotland and Northern Ireland, although only three of these are known well enough to code for phylogenetic analysis. The oldest pterygometopines, including species of Achatella, are known from Middle Ordovician strata of Baltica. Phylogenetic analysis supports a single migration event from Baltica from Laurentia, followed by a modest diversification in the latter region.