Eospondylus primigenius STUERTZ, 1886

By oilshale

• October 30, 2019

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Echinodermata Klein 1754
Class: Ophiuroidea Gray 1840
Order: Phrynophiurida Matsumoto 1915
Family: Eospondylidae Spencer and Wright 1966
Genus: Eospondylus
Species: Eospondylus primigenius
Author Citation STUERTZ, 1886

Geological Time Scale

Eon: Phanerozoic
Era: Paleozoic
Period: Devonian
Sub Period: None
Epoch: Early
International Age: Emsian (early)

Stratigraphy

Hunsrück Slate Group
Kaub Formation

Provenance

Acquired by: Purchase/Trade

Dimensions

Diameter: 8 cm

Location

Eschenbach-Bocksberg Quarry
Bundenbach
Rhineland-Palatinate
Germany

• bundenbach
• devonian
• emsian
• eospondylus
• eschenbach
• kaub formation
• tff-oilshale-ec2142

Comments

Taxonomy from Fossilworks.com.

Description from Südkamp 2017, p 140:" Eospondylus is related to Furcaster, especially for its ambulacrals fused into vertebrae, their form, their deep median dorsal cleft and the open groove. The circular disc incorporates only two arm vertebrae and bears small scale-like plates. The five long arms are about as high as wide. They can bend extremely, up to 180° involving seven segments. The laterals have a vertical spine ridge bearing a row of long spines of unequal length. The laterals on the oral surface are more conspicuous, somewhat pear shaped and bear minute groove spines."

Identified by oilshale using Südkamp 2017.
References:
Stürtz, B. (1886) Beitrag zur Kenntnis paläozoische Seesterne. Palaeontographica 32:75-98.
Gregory.  J. W. (1897) On the classification of the Palaeozoic echinoderms of the group Ophiuroidea. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1896:1028-1044.
Lehmann, W.M.  (1957) Die Asterozoen in den Dachschiefern des rheinischen Unterdevons. Abhandlungen des Hessischen Landesamtes für Bodenforschung 21:1-160.
Südkamp, W. (2017) Life in the Devonian. Identification book Hunsrück Slate fossils. Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München.