Homalozoan echinoderms of the Wheeler Formation (Middle Cambrian) of western Utah
Year: 1988
Type: article
Abstract: . —Three new species, representing three of the four homalozoan classes, are described from the upper Wheeler Formation of middle Middle Cambrian age in west-central Utah. Ctenocystis colodon n. sp. is only the fifth species of Ctenocystoidea to be described. The new order Ctenocystida is defined. The solutan Castericystis? sprinklei n. sp. is the fifth species of Homoiostelea to be reported from Cambrian strata. The cornute Cothurnocystis? bifida n. sp. is the fifth species of Stylophora to be reported from Middle Cambrian strata worldwide and only the second from North America. This homalozoan fauna is among the most diverse known from any Cambrian formation. AMONG ECHINODERMS, homalozoans are un usual in their complete lack of radial symmetry. Representatives are relatively rare, especially in Cambrian strata. Three new Cambrian spe-cies, which represent three of the four homa-lozoan classes, are described here. All are from the upper Wheeler Formation of west-central Utah and include the ctenocystoid Ctenocystis colodon from the Drum Mountains, the homoiostelean Castericystis? sprinklei from the Manuscript received 15 November 1987. House Range, and the stylophoran Cothur-nocystis? bifida from the House Range. Each homalozoan species in the Wheeler Formation is from a different locality. Such low diversity is typical of most Cambrian echi-noderm faunas, although locally each species may be represented by numerous individuals. For several years, knowledge of the class Ctenocystoidea was limited to the single species Ctenocystis utahensis Robison and Sprinkle, 1969, which is locally abundant in the Spence Shale of
Authors: Georges Ubaghs, Richard A. Robison
Language: English
Subfield: Paleontology
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2133435646