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?Tethyaster albertensis, a Late Cretaceous (Turonian) sea star from the Cardium Formation, Alberta, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 July 2015

Russell L. Hall
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
Suzan Moore
Affiliation:
Petrel-Robertson Ltd., 2801, 18th Street N.E., Calgary, Alberta T2E 7K5, Canada

Extract

Although many of the surviving lineages of sea stars appeared during an early Mesozoic radiation of the class and have undergone limited change since then, they have left a very poor fossil record, particularly in the Mesozoic of North America (Blake, 1981). This record from the Late Cretaceous of Alberta is made more significant by the fact that it is apparently only the second occurrence of a member of the family Astropectinidae in the Cretaceous of North America; Lophidiaster silentiensis was described by McLearn (1944) from the Lower Cretaceous (Albian) Hasler Formation, from a now-submerged locality on the Peace River in northern Alberta. All previously recorded fossil sea stars from the North American Cretaceous are representatives of the family Goniasteridae.

Type
Taxonomic Notes
Copyright
Copyright © The Journal of Paleontology 

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