Revision of echinoids from the Tournaisian (Mississippian) of Belgium and the importance of disarticulated material in assessing palaeodiversity: Belgian echinoids

Thompson, Jeffrey R. and Denayer, Julien (2016) Revision of echinoids from the Tournaisian (Mississippian) of Belgium and the importance of disarticulated material in assessing palaeodiversity: Belgian echinoids. Geological Journal, 52 (4), 529-538. (doi:10.1002/gj.2783).

Abstract

Articulated echinoids are rare in Palaeozoic strata. In order to gain a better understanding of palaeodiversity and community composition, it is more than useful to incorporate disarticulated specimens into estimates of such metrics. It has been demonstrated that disarticulated ossicles of echinoids from the post-Palaeozoic can be diagnostic at the species level and can be used to bolster analyses of diversity. Although usually not identifiable to the species level, many families, and some genera, of Palaeozoic echinoids have diagnostic properties that can be recognized from disarticulated plates. Herein, it is demonstrated that such diagnostic properties exist for plates of the Palaechinidae, Archaeocidaridae and Proterocidaridae, and that the utility of using disarticulated echinoid ossicles to aid in palaeodiversity studies extends back into the Palaeozoic. Portions of the echinoid fauna from Tournai, Belgium, are revised and disarticulated plates of echinoids from two upper Tournaisian localities in Belgium, Pair and Petit-Modave, are examined and described. The fauna of Pair yielded an indeterminate palaechinid and Hyattechinus sp., while the fauna from Petit-Modave yielded only indeterminate palaechinid plates. Although no articulated specimens are known from these localities, when disarticulated plates are taken into account, a more accurate estimate of palaeodiversity becomes clear.

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Contributors

Author: Jeffrey R. Thompson

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