Epizoan associations in a lower mississippian paleocommunity (borden group,Indiana, U.S.A.)

Epizoans were part of an epifaunal suspension‐feeding paleocommunity of the interchannel mudstone fades of the Borden delta (Edwardsville Formation, Mississippian, Indiana, USA). The paleocommunity was composed predominantly of bryozoans, crinoids, and brachiopods. A total of 26 epizoans and 42 potential hosts were present with Composita globosa, crinoids, and Cladochonus beecheri the principal hosts. Associations are classified as obligate, preferred, random, variable, and limited data. Stenoporid sp. B, Phosphannulus sp., and Platyceras spp. had obligate relationships with crinoids; Cornulitella sp. and Dendrina sp. had obligate relationships with Composita globosa; Ropalonaria sp. had an obligate relationship with Cladochonus beecheri; and Amplexizaphremis? sp. had an obligate relationship with fenestrate bryozoans. The following taxa had preferred associations to more than one host: Ascodictyon sp., Cheilotrypa sp., Corynotrypa sp. A, Corynotrypa sp. B, Fistulipora sp., Heteralosia keokuk, stenoporid sp. A, and fenestrates. Totypammina sp. displayed a nearly random pattern of settlement; and Cladochonus beecheri, Spirorbis sp., Thuramminoides sp., and crinoids have variable associations with hosts between the two localities studied.