First report of a nearly complete comatulid crinoid (Comatulida, Echinodermata) from the Cretaceous of Australia.

ABSTRACT: Finds of stalkless comatulid crinoids in the Southern Hemisphere are extremely rare and are almost exclusively of their centrodorsals. Complete or nearly complete specimens (centrodorsal with articulated arms, cirri and/or pinnules) are known from only a few localities. Here we report a comatulid fossil comprised of a centrodorsal, arms, and pinnules, assigned to Solanocrinitidae gen. et sp. indet. The shape of the centrodorsal; the arrangement, shape, and size of radials; and the morphology of the radial cavity suggest similarity of this fossil to Solanocrinites or Archaeometra rather than to Comatulina, Pachyantedon, or Palaeocomaster. It cannot be ruled out that the studied specimen belongs to Decameros with its relatively low and discoidal centrodorsal. In the light of last phylogeneti

SUBMITTER: Salamon MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11903946 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature