Tiny thing with plates - middle Jurassic

[Ossicle]

This is from the Oxford Clay, Peterborough Member so Callovian, Middle Jurassic. I'm not sure what it is, it's very small and I took the pictures with a digital camera - the scale is in mm. Other fauna found with it included ammonites, crinoids, belemnites and gryphia. Any suggestions appreciated. Other things I've found of a similar size and shape there are echinoid spines and some kind of burrow cast, but this is very different. I was wondering if it might be a different part of a crinoid than I'm used to finding?

[TqB]

Based on the plate pattern especially in the first photo, it looks like an ophiuroid arm.

 

From Martill & Hudson 1991, Fossils of the Oxford Clay.

[Rockwood]

Gut reaction . . . 

Beat me to the finish.

[Ossicle]

That would be awesome! I was thinking echinoderm, but not that. Thank you, that means I found something completely new for me.

[TqB]

8 minutes ago, Ossicle said:

That would be awesome! I was thinking echinoderm, but not that. Thank you, that means I found something completely new for me.

They're pretty rare - the book I referenced implies that they're only reasonably common as bits from Weymouth, very patchy elsewhere.

Yaxley doesn't get a mention.

[Ossicle]

I am now reading up on them, and have found this paper:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/brittle-stars-from-the-british-oxford-clay-unexpected-ophiuroid-diversity-on-jurassic-sublittoral-mud-bottoms/8B34E184DFCF1CEEE275194CE2498B17

 

I love echinoderms. Thank you so much.

[doushantuo]

Thx for pointing out the paper,which i somehow missed!

[doushantuo]

BTW:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0031940

Citation: Stohr S, O’Hara TD, Thuy B (2012) Global Diversity of Brittle Stars
(Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea). PLoS ONE 7(3): e31940. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.
0031940

3,86 MB

NB: diacritic in Stohr omitted

Her most important paper is heavily paywalled

[DE&i]

That would be a very rare find indeed, @oxford clay keith

[DE&i]

On 12/10/2019 at 1:58 PM, Ossicle said:

I am now reading up on them, and have found this paper:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/brittle-stars-from-the-british-oxford-clay-unexpected-ophiuroid-diversity-on-jurassic-sublittoral-mud-bottoms/8B34E184DFCF1CEEE275194CE2498B17

 

I love echinoderms. Thank you so much.

 

Hi @Ossicle 

 

Dr Timothy A. M. Ewin

Senior Curator, Invertebrate Palaeontology (Echinoderms)

Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum London, Co author of the paper you mention is very approachable via email. 

 

If you can send him some quality sharp photos of your find. I'm sure hell respond. 

 

I sent some photos to Dr Ewin of some "rare as hens teeth" crinoids from the Oxford Clay. And he replied very quickly, unfortunately for me, the crinoids are misplaced for the moment. But I hope to find some more to send over to him. As we are unsure as to what type of crinoid they are. 

[Ossicle]

I sent photos to Sedgewick for more information, and they do think it is an ophiuroid  @DE&i , Dr Ewin may be able to identify the species, or might be interested in it, so I will send him photos, thank you.

 

What shape were your crinoid ossicles? I just found some quite different to my normal stars, but couldn't find much on the subject in Martill. It's a small lump of rock covered in round ossicles with other different shaped plates and pieces. It's quite different from what I normally find in the clay.