New Brittle Stars (Echinodermata, Ophiuroidea) from the Oligocene of the Mainz Basin, Germany

Autor: Ben Thuy, Kai Nungesser, Lea D. Numberger-Thuy
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Taxonomy, Vol 2, Iss 2, Pp 196-207 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2673-6500
DOI: 10.3390/taxonomy2020015
Popis: The fossil record of the Ophiuroidea is still patchy, especially in the Cenozoic. Only four species have been described from the entire Oligocene, which is in stark contrast to the present-day diversity counting more than 2000 species. Here, we describe two new species of ophiuroid, Ophiura tankardi sp. nov. and Ophiodoris niersteinensis sp. nov., from the Lower Oligocene of the Mainz Basin. The species are based on microfossils extracted from the sieving residues of bulk sediment samples from a flush drill in Nierstein, Rhineland-Palatinate. The new species belong to extant genera and add to the poor Oligocene fossil record of the class. Based on present-day distributions, the occurrence of Ophiodoris suggests deep sublittoral to shallow bathyal palaeodepths for the Nierstein area of the Mainz Basin.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals
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