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Issue: Vol. 5620 No. 3: 10 Apr. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-04-10
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5620.3.6
Page range: 470-476
Abstract views: 128
PDF downloaded: 26

A Jurassic relict of the Triassic stem euryalid brittle star Aspiduriella (Echinodermata, Ophiuroidea)

Musée national d’Histoire naturelle, 25 rue Münster, 2160 Luxembourg city, Luxembourg.
Musée national d’Histoire naturelle, 25 rue Münster, 2160 Luxembourg city, Luxembourg. Dinosaurierpark Teufelsschlucht, Ferschweilerstraße 50, 54668 Ernzen, Germany.
School of the Environment, Geography and Geological Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Building, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth PO13QL, UK.
Echinodermata Ophiuroids euryalida microfossils hettangian Belgium

Abstract

During recent years, the study of extinct brittle stars has gained significant momentum thanks to advances in our understanding of the group’s skeletal morphology. On the basis of these novel insights and the discovery of new, exceptionally preserved material from the middle Hettangian of Belgium, we here re-describe the enigmatic brittle star Mesophiomusium kianiae. We show that it represents a new genus, Persoonaster gen. nov., which shares a number of striking similarities with the Triassic genus Aspiduriella, forming a paedomorphic lineage at the stem of the extant Euryalida for which we here introduce the new family Aspiduriellidae. The Aspiduriella lineage was among the most common and widey disributed in the Triassic, and unexpectedly survived into the Lower Jurassic as evidenced by recognition of the new genus Persoonaster.

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How to Cite

Thuy, B., Numberger-Thuy, L.D. & Gale, A.S. (2025) A Jurassic relict of the Triassic stem euryalid brittle star Aspiduriella (Echinodermata, Ophiuroidea). Zootaxa, 5620 (3), 470–476. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5620.3.6