Echinoid ID wanted

[Hugh Mongous]

Hello again.

 

About 2 years ago I found the following Echinoid (I think) in the northern province of Drenthe in the Netherlands.

I was actually looking for interesting rocks and at first I thought that's what I had picked up, a piece of rounded/worn flint or chert.

On closer inspection it looked like something that was once alive. Actually thought it was a long dead starfish, but after some googling I 'm fairly certain it's a type of Echinoid like a Conulus or maybe Salenia.

 

Some background info: the area this was found was once covered with glacial ice that originated in Scandinavia, the Saale Glaciation (347,000 to 128,000 years ago).

The glacial ice has deposited numerous large erratic boulders from which the famous 'Hunebedden' were constructed some 5,000 years ago. Along with those, heaps of smaller rocks and boulders were also laid down in the northern provinces. I suppose the same glaciers also transported fossils from the Scandinavian countries to this and the surrounding area.

 

This was found on the surface of an area quite unique in the country. A glacial deposit covered in patches of heather and super fine white sand. The top 5 to 10 cm of sand contain loads and loads of smaller rocks of different kinds, so I suspect this Echinoid was deposited along with them and wasn't a species native to this area.

 

Based on some photos from https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/data/echinoid-directory/index.html

I'm thinking this is a type of Conulus that lived in the cretaceous but that's as far as I dare to guess. Hoping somebody can further ID or correct my own ID.

 

The specimen is 25mm in width and feels as if it's been worn by sand and wind (which certainly happened to some rocks I found in the same area)

 

Thanks

[ClearLake]

Yes, that is definitely an echinoid. I’m not even going to hazard a more specific ID since I am not familiar with the fossils found in your area, but it is certainly well enough preserved that someone should be able to help you. Fossils found in glacial outwash deposits can be a bit trickier as there can be significant mixing of ages, but I suspect that the local experts should be able to recognize it. It does have the appearance of being quite old as it appears to be very mineralized.  A very nice little specimen!

[JohnJ]

It appears to be a steinkern of an echinoid.  In other words, most of the external surface of the echinoid is long gone, and this piece shows more of what the inside surface of the shell looked like, although highly polished.  This complicates an exact identification.  However, others familiar with the area might recognize the form.  It has similarities to more than one genera...Coenholyctpus among them.

[caterpillar]

As it said, it's an echinid internal mold and much eroded. Difficult to id. But I can suppose there were a small periproct. So I propose the Discoidinae family

[Hugh Mongous]

21 hours ago, ClearLake said:

Yes, that is definitely an echinoid. I’m not even going to hazard a more specific ID since I am not familiar with the fossils found in your area, but it is certainly well enough preserved that someone should be able to help you. Fossils found in glacial outwash deposits can be a bit trickier as there can be significant mixing of ages, but I suspect that the local experts should be able to recognize it. It does have the appearance of being quite old as it appears to be very mineralized.  A very nice little specimen!

 

21 hours ago, JohnJ said:

It appears to be a steinkern of an echinoid.  In other words, most of the external surface of the echinoid is long gone, and this piece shows more of what the inside surface of the shell looked like, although highly polished.  This complicates an exact identification.  However, others familiar with the area might recognize the form.  It has similarities to more than one genera...Coenholyctpus among them.

It's definitely very miniralized, nothing of the original material is left. I do like the way it's polished and not stuck in a lump of chalk. Must have been on the surface for a considerable amount of time.

Almost looks like someone prepped it and dropped it in the sand.

20 hours ago, caterpillar said:

As it said, it's an echinid internal mold and much eroded. Difficult to id. But I can suppose there were a small periproct. So I propose the Discoidinae family

 

It does indeed look more similar to Discoidinae than Conulus. Close enough for me.

 

Thanks guys.

 

Knowing it's approximate age (upper cretaceous?) makes it that much more special to me. There's just something magical about holding a piece of ancient history. Love it.