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  • Palaeocoma milleri


    Images:

    TqB

    Taxonomy

    Brittle Star

    Kingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Echinodermata
    Class: Ophiuroidea
    Order: Ophiurida
    Family: Ophiodermatidae
    Genus: Palaeocoma
    Species: Palaeocoma milleri
    Author Citation (Phillips, 1829)

    Geological Time Scale

    Eon: Phanerozoic
    Era: Mesozoic
    Period: Jurassic
    Sub Period: None
    Epoch: Early
    International Age: Pliensbachian

    Stratigraphy

    Lias Group
    Staithes Sandstone Formation

    Biostratigraphy

    Prodactylioceras davoei Zone
    Oistoceras figulinum Subzone

    Provenance

    Collector: self
    Date Collected: 07/15/2014
    Acquired by: Field Collection

    Dimensions

    Width: 19.5 cm

    Location

    North Yorkshire coast
    North Yorkshire County
    North East
    England

    Comments

    As often the case with brittle stars and other starfish, this shows the oral surface and is on the underside of the sandstone bed.

    The bed below it is a shale and the base of the sandstone represents a sudden influx of sediment which preserved the brittle star nearly intact. 

     

    This was Invertebrate/Plant Fossil of the Month Sept 2014 and Fossil of the Year 2014.

     

     




    User Feedback


    Wow!  What a gorgeous brittle star!  I had to take an extra few seconds of looking just to make sure it wasn't still alive!

     

    -Joe

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    Thanks, Joe! It does drape nicely, here's the prep. sequence: link

     (The last pic there has gone pixellated for some reason...)

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    Fossildude19

    Posted

    1 hour ago, TqB said:

    (The last pic there has gone pixellated for some reason...)

     

    Fixed it. ;) 

    This is truly one of, if not THE most spectacular Brittlestars I have ever seen. 

    Amazing!

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    Beautiful! Is that the ventral side?

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    Thanks, @Fossildude19

     

    1 hour ago, BobWill said:

    Beautiful! Is that the ventral side?

     

    Thanks, @BobWill. Yes, dorsal presentations are scarce because of the mode of preservation on the base of sandstone layers.

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    doushantuo

    Posted

    That is ONE awesome well-preserved ophiuroid,Tarq.

    REALLY  museum quality,that is

    Underneath:the species in "The Ophiuroids of the English Jurassic"(from '64)

    paleocosoftwaredhesign.jpg

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    Thanks, Ben - good detail that I've not seen before. Wish I could read German...

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    8 hours ago, TqB said:

    Thanks, @BobWill. Yes, dorsal presentations are scarce because of the mode of preservation on the base of sandstone layers.

     

    So does this mean the creatures were likely right-side-up when they were covered by sand and then we see the sandstone layer turned up-side-down?

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    3 minutes ago, BobWill said:

     

    So does this mean the creatures were likely right-side-up when they were covered by sand and then we see the sandstone layer turned up-side-down?

     

    Exactly - it's a common feature of starfish/brittlestar sudden burial scenarios, sometimes with a shale as the underlayer that allows relatively easy prepping.

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