Brittle stars from the British Oxford Clay: unexpected ophiuroid diversity on Jurassic sublittoral mud bottoms

Three new ophiuran species, Enakomusium whymanae n. sp., Aspidophiura? seren n. sp., and Ophiotitanos smithi n. sp., and an unnamed specimen assignable to the genus Dermocoma are described from the Callovian to Oxfordian Oxford Clay Formation of Great Britain. These determinations are based on new f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of paleontology 2017-07, Vol.91 (4), p.781-798
Main Authors: Ewin, Timothy A.M, Thuy, Ben
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Aspidophiura seren
Asterozoa
Bedford England
Bedfordshire England
Biodiversity
Chippenham England
Clay
Communities
Composition
Dorset England
Echinodermata
Enakomusium whymanae
England
Europe
Fossils
Geology
Gloucestershire England
Great Britain
Invertebrata
invertebrate
Jurassic
Lechlade England
lithostratigraphy
Marine invertebrates
Mesozoic
Morphology
Mud
Museums
new taxa
Ophiotitanos smithi
Ophiuroidea
Oxford Clay
Paleobiology
paleoecology
Paleontology
Rare species
Relative abundance
Stelleroidea
Stratigraphy
taphonomy
Taxa
taxonomy
United Kingdom
Western Europe
Weymouth England
Wiltshire England
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Description
Summary:Three new ophiuran species, Enakomusium whymanae n. sp., Aspidophiura? seren n. sp., and Ophiotitanos smithi n. sp., and an unnamed specimen assignable to the genus Dermocoma are described from the Callovian to Oxfordian Oxford Clay Formation of Great Britain. These determinations are based on new finds and a critical reassessment of historic specimens. The Oxford Clay ophiuroids represent two loose assemblages, one from the middle Callovian Peterborough Member and the other from the lower Oxfordian Weymouth Member. Both assemblages accord well with coeval midshelf mud bottom ophiuroid communities in terms of taxonomic composition and relative abundance of taxa. The British Oxford Clay ophiuroids are particularly significant as they are one of the rare instances where multiple species are represented, almost exclusively, by exceptionally preserved articulated skeletons. This provides an important window into the understanding of mid-Upper Jurassic ophiuroid paleobiology.
ISSN:0022-3360
1937-2337
DOI:10.1017/jpa.2016.162