Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Journal of Paleontology

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (2) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by KAMMER, T. W. Articles by GAHN, F. J. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

PRIMITIVE CLADID CRINOIDS FROM THE EARLY OSAGEAN BURLINGTON LIMESTONE AND THE PHYLOGENETICS OF MISSISSIPPIAN SPECIES OF CYATHOCRINITES

¹ Department of Geology and Geography, West Virginia University, Morgantown 26506-6300, <tkammer{at}wvu.edu>
² Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-1079, <fgahn{at}umich.edu>

All 19 known species of the primitive cladid crinoid genera Atelestocrinus, Cyathocrinites, Goniocrinus, Parisocrinus, Pellecrinus, and Zygotocrinus from the early Osagean Burlington Limestone of the North American midcontinent are reviewed and redescribed or, where necessary, redefined. Nine of these species are illustrated for the first time herein. Sixteen are considered valid, including C. deroseari n. sp. Of the remaining three species, one is left in open nomenclature, and two are considered nomen dubia. Pellecrinus is recognized for the first time from the Burlington Limestone, although the specimens can not be identified to the species level and are left in open nomenclature.

Cyathocrinites ranges from the Middle Silurian to at least the Middle Mississippian. During the Early Mississippian Cyathocrinites experienced an evolutionary radiation with a maximum diversity of nine species in the Burlington Limestone. Phylogenetic relationships were investigated in a parsimony-based phylogenetic analysis by combining morphologic data from the Burlington species with data from the four other species of Cyathocrinites from the late Osagean and early Meramecian of the east-central United States. The Kinderhookian C. chouteauensis (Miller and Gurley, 1896) served as the outgroup. A phylogenetic analysis of 14 species of Mississippian Cyathocrinites yielded a single most parsimonious tree with a length of 28 steps (C. I. = 0.607, H. I. = 0.392, R. I. = 0.718, R. C. = 0.436). Results of this analysis suggest that at least two major clades existed within Mississippian Cyathocrinites. One clade contains C. sampsoni (Miller, 1891b), C. gilesi (Wachsmuth and Springer, 1878), C. farleyi (Meek and Worthen, 1866), and C. barydactylus (Wachsmuth and Springer, 1878). The second clade contains C. iowensis, C. kelloggi (White, 1862), C. barrisi (Hall, 1861a), C. rigidus, C. deroseari n. sp., C. asperrimus (Springer, 1911), C. lamellosus (White, 1863), and C. harrodi (Wachsmuth and Springer, 1880). Cyathocrinites multibrachiatus forms a polytomy with these two clades. Members of the first clade exhibit a unique overall morphology present only during the Mississippian, suggesting the clade arose during this time. Members of the second clade, plus C. multibrachiatus, exhibit some characters present in Cyathocrinites species as old as the Middle Silurian and, thus, may have its roots among Silurian and Devonian species.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. W. KAMMER and W. I. AUSICH The "Age of Crinoids": A Mississippian Biodiversity Spike Coincident with Widespread Carbonate Ramps Palaios, June 1, 2006; 21(3): 238 - 248. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. G. LEE, W. I. AUSICH, and T. W. KAMMER CRINOIDS FROM THE NADA MEMBER OF THE BORDEN FORMATION (LOWER MISSISSIPPIAN) IN EASTERN KENTUCKY Journal of Paleontology, February 1, 2005; 79(2): 337 - 355. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]