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An asteroid (Echinodermata) faunule from the Oxfordian Swift Formation (Upper Jurassic) of Montana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2016

Daniel B. Blake
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Illinois, 506 W Springfield, Champaign, Illinois, 61820USA 〈[email protected]
Thomas E. Guensburg
Affiliation:
Sciences Division, Rock Valley College, 3301 N. Mulford Road, Rockford, Illinois, 61114USA 〈[email protected]

Abstract

A new Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) asteroid (Echinodermata) faunule from the Swift Formation of Montana includes representatives of four genera including the new genus and species Atalopegaster gundersoni (Stichasteridae), Eokainaster sp. indet. (Astropectinidae), an indeterminate probable member of the Goniasteridae, and a species indeterminate beyond the class level. Because of weathering at the outcrop, preservation is poor.

Although representing an unusual depositional occurrence, overall faunule composition appears comparable to that found in a similar modern environment. The faunule is comparable in age and regional location to earlier Jurassic asteroid discoveries, suggesting wide distribution during a geologically brief time interval of favorable conditions. Asteroids are only rarely reported from the Mesozoic of the North American continental interior, and co-occurrence of multiple fossil taxa is unusual on a global basis.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 2016, The Paleontological Society 

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