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Journal of Paleontology

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Basal Middle Cambrian Short-Stalked Eocrinoids from the Kaili Biota: Guizhou Province, China

¹ College of Resource and Environment, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550003, China, <zhaoyuanlong{at}126.com>
² Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, <parsley{at}tulane.edu>
³ Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China

Gogiid eocrinoids (Echinodermata) are the most abundant coelomate invertebrates in the Middle Cambrian (Taijiangian) Kaili Biota, Taijiang County, Guizhou Province, China. Both long- and short-stalked taxa are represented. The short-stalked Globoeocrinus globulus n. gen. and sp. has a globular theca, with well-developed sutural pores on all thecal plates in older mature specimens, short, thick stalk composed of small polygonal to rounded platelets, a large flattened attachment disc, and up to ten long, thin, helically coiled brachioles with tall, pointed cover plates. Some younger mature specimens have varying patches of non-pored plates that usually occur on the upper (probably) posterior portion of the theca. This species is over three times more abundant than the other co-occurring long-stalked gogiid Sinoeocrinus lui Zhao, Huang and Gong, 1994. Most specimens of G. globulus (ca. 80%) attach to acrotretid brachiopods, trilobite exuviae, or other skeletal remains. They are also capable of attaching directly to the seafloor.