The Wheeler Shale (named by Charles Walcott) is a Cambrian (c. 507 Ma) fossil locality world famous for prolific agnostid and Elrathia kingii trilobite remains (even though many areas are barren of fossils) and represents a Konzentrat-Lagerstätten. 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. As such, the Wheeler Shale also represents a Konservat-Lagerstätten.
Together with the Marjum Formation and lower Weeks Formation, the Wheeler Shale forms 490 to 610 m (1,610 to 2,000 ft) of limestone and shale exposed in one of the thickest, most fossiliferous and best exposed sequences of Middle Cambrian rocks in North America.
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. 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.
Detailed work recognises a number of ~10 m thick lagerstätten sequences in the formation, each of which formed at a sea-level high stand in deep water. The lagerstätte were deposited by turbidities and mudslides onto an oxygenated sea floor. The productive layers comprise mud and clay particles, with a tiny fraction of wind-blown quartz.
The Wheeler Shale spans the Ptychagnostus atavus and uppermost-Middle Cambrian Bolaspidella trilobite zones (See House Range) for full stratigraphy).
Incomplete list of the fauna of the Wheeler Shale: (Note: the preservation of hard bodied trilobite remains and soft bodied animals seems to be mutually exclusive within particular horizons.)
Margaretia dorus - algae? or possibly alcyonarian coralMarpolia spissa - cyanobacteria or green algaeMorania fragmenta - cyanobacteriaYuknessia simplex - green algae?Branchiocaris pretiosa - crustaceanBranchiocaris sp.Cambropodus gracilis - uniramianCanadaspis perfecta - crustacean or euarthropodDicerocaris opisthoecesEmeraldella brocki - chelicerate?Isoxys - crustaceomorph?Pahvantia hastata - local genus named after the PahvantPerspicaris dilatusProboscicaris agnostaPseudoarctolepis sharpie - phyllocaridaTuzoia? peterseni - thylacocephalanWaptia fieldensis - crustaceomorphAlalcomenaeus cambrius - megacheiran; or alalcomenaeidDicranocaris guntherorum - megacheiran; or alalcomenaeidunnamed 'Molli Sonia symmetrica'Leanchoilia superlata - megacheiranSidneyia inexpectans - merostomoidNaraoia compacta - naraoiid nectaspidHypagnostus parvifrons - agnostidPeronopsis amplaxis - peronopsid agnostidPeronopsis bidensPeronopsis fallaxPeronopsis gaspensisPeronopsis intermediusPeronopsis interstrictusPeronopsis montisPeronopsis segmentisPtychagnostus atavus (= Acidusus atavus) - ptychagnostid agnostidPtychagnostus germanusPtychagnostus gibbusPtychagnostus intermediusPtychagnostus michaeliPtychagnostus occultatusPtychagnostus seminulaGlyphaspis concavus - asaphidBathyuriscus fimbriatus - dolichometopid corynexochidBathyuriscus sp.Kootenia sp. - dorypygid corynexochid, perhaps a synonym of OlenoidesOlenoides expansus - dorypygid corynexochidOlenoides nevadensisOlenoides serratusTonkinella brevicepsZacanthoides divergens - zacanthoidid corynexochidZacanthoides sp.Altiocculus harrisi - ptychopariid (specific name may be confused with Alokistocare)Alokistocare harrisi - alokistocarid ptychopariidAsaphiscus wheeleri - ptychopariid; second-most common species in the formationBathyocos housensis - ptychopariidBolaspidella drumensisBolaspidella housensisBolaspidella sp.Bolaspidella wellsvillensisBrachyaspidion micropsBrachyaspidion sulcatumCedaria minor - known from the Warrior FormationElrathia kingii - alokistocarid ptychopariidElrathia sp.Elrathina wheeleri = Ptychoparella wheeleri? - ptychopariidJenkinsonia vargaModocia brevispinaModocia laevinuchaModocia typicalisPtychoparella sp. - ptychopariidPtychoparella wheeleriSpencella sp. - ptychopariidAcrothele subsiduaHertzina sp. - conodontCambromedusa sp. - jellyfishPelagiella sp. - pelagiellid helcionelloidCastericystis sprinklei - carpoidCastericystis sp.Cothurnocystis sp. - stylophoranCtenocystis sp. - ctenocystoidGogia spiralis - eocrinoidEocrinoid holdfasts believed to belong to Gogia spiralis; may belong to other speciesChoia carteri - choiid monaxonid demospongeChoia utahensisCrumillospongia sp. - hazeliid monaxonid demospongeDiagonella sp.Ottoia prolifica - a stem group and it was an archaeopriapulidSelkirkia sp. - archaeopriapulid"Selkirkia willoughbyi" (Note: S. columbia is the only recognized species)Aysheaia prolata - xenusiid lobopod or onychophoranHallucigenia sparsa - ?xenusiid lobopod or onychophoranChancelloria pentacta - chancelloriid coeloscleritophoran, perhaps a sponge?Anomalocaris sp. - anomalocaridid, perhaps a stem-group of the arthropodsEldonia sp. - eldoniid paropsonemid cambroernidSkeemella clavula - Possible vetulicolianHylolithellus sp. - annelid?Wiwaxia corrugata - halwaxiid? lophotrochozoan
