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A starfish bed in the Middle Miocene Grand Bay Formation of Carriacou, The Grenadines (West Indies)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2013

JOHN W. M. JAGT ,
BEN THUY ,
STEPHEN K. DONOVAN ,
SABINE STÖHR ,
ROGER W. PORTELL ,
RON K. PICKERILL ,
DAVID A. T. HARPER ,
WILLIAM LINDSAY  and
TREVOR A. JACKSON
JOHN W. M. JAGT
Affiliation:
Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, de Bosquetplein 6-7, NL-6211 KJ Maastricht, The Netherlands
BEN THUY
Affiliation:
Geoscience Centre, University of Göttingen, Department of Geobiology, Goldschmidtsrasse 3, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany
STEPHEN K. DONOVAN*
Affiliation:
Naturalis Biodiversity Center, P.O. Box 9517, NL-2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
SABINE STÖHR
Affiliation:
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Department of Zoology, Box 50007, SE-10405 Stockholm, Sweden
ROGER W. PORTELL
Affiliation:
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
RON K. PICKERILL
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, CanadaE3B 5A3
DAVID A. T. HARPER
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
WILLIAM LINDSAY
Affiliation:
9, 8 Maritime Street, Leith, Edinburgh, EH6 6SB, UK
TREVOR A. JACKSON
Affiliation:
Seismic Research Centre, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad
*
§Author for correspondence: [email protected]
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Abstract

The first starfish bed to be recognized from the Antilles is a lensoid body in the middle Miocene Grand Bay Formation of Carriacou, The Grenadines (West Indies). This unit was deposited in a turbidite basin in a region of active volcanism fed from one centre and preserves common deep-water taxa more typical of the Palaeozoic, such as crinoids and brachiopods. The starfish bed is a channel-fill deposit laid down in at least 150–200 m water depth, although the specimens may have been derived from shallower water. A goniasterid asteroid and an ophiacanthid ophiuroid have been recognized. The first articulated asteroid from the Antillean fossil record is Paragonaster(?) haldixoni sp. nov. In all skeletal features it appears close to the extant Atlantic species Paragonaster grandis H. L. Clark and P. subtilis (Perrier), but differs in having a single row of rectangular abactinal ossicles extending to the arm tip; these are longer than wide. The brittlestar, Ophiocamax ventosa sp. nov., is described on the basis of a fragmentary disc and arms from this deposit. The closest similarities are with the extant tropical western Atlantic species Ophiocamax hystrix Lyman and O. austera Verrill. However, the new species has thorns covering the entire surface of dorsal arm plates, while arm spines have a multitude of small thorns, loosely arranged in numerous rows and dorsal arm plate shape differs markedly. The occurrence of O. ventosa sp. nov. suggests that Ophiocamax has been a deep-sea taxon at least since the Miocene.

Keywords

AsteroideaGoniasteridaeOphiuroideaOphiocanthidaedeep water
Type
Original Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 151 , Issue 3 , May 2014 , pp. 381 - 393
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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