In recent years,  the authors, along with colleagues, have docu-
  mented the lower Virgilian ammonoid faunas of the Midcontinent
  and north-central Texas (Boardman et al., 1989, 1994a, 1994b;
  Work and Boardman, 1995, 1996).  Generic diversity for this in-
  terval is the highest in any Upper Pennsylvanian succession: at
  least 18 genera (representing 15 families) have been recovered
  from the Colony Creek Shale in north-central Texas alone (Board-
  man et al., 1989).  An additional, previously unrecognized am-
  monoid from the correlative Little Pawnee Shale in southeastern
  Kansas is described herein as Mapesites chautauquaensis new
  genus and species. lt is a highly original taxon with no obvious
  close relatives.