Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dehmicystis globulus, an enigmatic solute (Echinodermata) from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate, Germany

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Paläontologische Zeitschrift Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Dehmicystis globulus is a very poorly known Lower Devonian solute echinoderm from the Hunsrück Slate of Germany. To date, only the holotype has been formally described; however, it is incomplete and does not preserve important characters of the group. We report three new individuals on the same slab of slate, one of which is almost complete. This material informs a full systematic redescription of the genus. The orientation and mode of life of solutes are contentious; our new morphofunctional data strongly suggest that Dehmicystis was oriented with the ambulacrum on the upper surface. Such a position implies a suspension feeding mode of life, with food particles captured from the current using the ambulacrum. The stele may have enabled limited movement on the sea floor but was principally responsible for support, anchorage, and (facultative) attachment.

Kurzfassung

Dehmicystis globulus ist ein kaum bekannter unterdevonischer Stachelhäuter der Ordnung Soluta aus dem Hunsrückschiefer in Deutschland. Bis heute ist nur der Holotyp formal beschrieben worden. Dieser ist jedoch unvollständig. Wichtige Merkmale der Ordnung sind nicht erhalten. Wir berichten über drei neue Individuen auf einer Schieferplatte, von denen eines nahezu komplett erhalten ist. Das Material ermöglicht eine systematische Wiederbeschreibung der Art. Orientierung und Lebensweise der Soluta sind umstritten. Die neuen funktionsmorphologischen Belege weisen auf eine mit dem Ambulacrum nach oben orientierte Lebensweise hin. Dies impliziert eine filtrierende Ernährungsweise unter Aufnahme von Nahrungspartikeln aus der Wassersäule. Der Stiel diente der Fixierung, ggf. Anheftung des Tieres und hat begrenzte Bewegungen auf dem Meeresboden ermöglicht.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Barrande, J. 1887. Système Silurien du Centre de la Bohème. Volume 7. Classe des Echinodermes, Ordre des Cystidées. Prague: Rivnác.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartels, C., and G. Brassel. 1990. Fossilien im Hunsrückschiefer. Dokumente des Meereslebens im Devon. Idar-Oberstein: Museum Idar-Oberstein.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartels, C., D.E.G. Briggs, and G. Brassel. 1998. The Fossils of the Hunsrück Slate. Marine Life in the Devonian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartels, C., M. Wuttke, and D.E.G. Briggs. (eds.) 2002. The Nahecaris project—releasing the marine life of the Devonian from the Hunsrück Slate of Bundenbach. Metalla (Bochum) 9: 55–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bassler, R.S. 1938. Pelmatozoa Palaeozoica. In Fossilium Catalogus Animalia Part 83, ed. W. Quenstedt, 199. The Hague: Dr. W. Junk.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bather, F.A. 1913. Caradocian Cystidea from Girvan. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 49: 359–529.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billings, E. 1859. On the Crinoideae of the lower Silurian rocks of Canada. Figures and Descriptions of Canadian Organic Remains 4: 1–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bottjer, D.J., E.H. Davidson, K.J. Peterson, and R.A. Cameron. 2006. Paleogenomics of echinoderms. Science 314: 956–960.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruguière, J.G. 1791. Tableau Encyclopédique et Méthodique des Trois Règnes de la Nature, Contenant l’Helminthologie, ou les vers Infusoires, les vers Intestins, les vers Mollusques, etc., Volume 7. Paris: Panckoucke.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caster, K.E. 1968. Homoiostelea. In Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part S, Echinodermata 1 (2), ed. R.C. Moore, S581–S623. Boulder and Lawrence: The Geological Society of America and the University of Kansas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daley, P.E.J. 1992. The anatomy of the solute Girvanicystis batheri (?Chordata) from the Upper Ordovician of Scotland and a new species of Girvanicystis from the Upper Ordovician of South Wales. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 105: 353–375.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daley, P.E.J. 1995. Anatomy, locomotion and ontogeny of the solute Castericystis vali from the Middle Cambrian of Utah. Geobios 28: 585–615.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daley, P.E.J. 1996. The first solute which is attached as an adult: a Mid-Cambrian fossil from Utah with echinoderm and chordate affinities. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 117: 405–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • David, B., B. Lefebvre, R. Mooi, and R.L. Parsley. 2000. Are homalozoans echinoderms? An answer from the extraxial-axial theory. Paleobiology 26: 529–555.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dehm, R. 1932. Cystoideen aus dem rheinischen Unterdevon. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie, Beilagen-Band, Abteilung A 69: 63–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dehm, R. 1934. Untersuchungen an Cystoideen des rheinischen Unterdevons. Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Abteilung der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München für 1934: 19–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dehm, R. 1961. Ein zweiter Seeigel, Porechinus porosus nov. gen. nov. spec. aus dem rheinischen Unter-Devon. Mitteilungen der Bayerischen Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Historische Geologie 1: 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Domínguez, P., R.P.S. Jefferies, and M.D. Gil Cid. 2002. An annotated check-list of genera and species of Carpoids. Coloquios de Paleontología 53: 33–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gill, E.D., and K.E. Caster. 1960. Carpoid echinoderms from the Silurian and Devonian of Australia. Bulletins of American Paleontology 41: 1–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glass, A. 2006. New observations on some poorly known protasterid ophiuroids from the lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate of Germany. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 80: 68–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glass, A., and D.B. Blake. 2004. Preservation of tube feet in an ophiuroid (Echinodermata) from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate of Germany and a redescription of Bundenbachia beneckei and Palaeophiomyxa grandis. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 78: 73–95.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gradstein, F.M., J.G. Ogg, and A.G. Smith (eds.). 2004. A geologic time scale 2004. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haude, R. 1983. Kaum bekannte und seltene Echinodermen aus dem Mitteldevon des rechtsrheinischen Schiefergebirges. Aufschluss 34: 101–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaekel, O. 1895. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der palaeozoischen Crinoiden Deutschlands. Paläontologischen Abhandlungen 7: 1–116.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaekel, O. 1901. Über Carpoideen; eine neue Klasse von Pelmatozoen. Zeitschrift der deutschen geologischen Gellschaft 52: 661–677.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaekel, O. 1918. Phylogenie und System der Pelmatozoen. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 3: 1–128.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jefferies, R.P.S. 1990. The solute Dendrocystoides scoticus from the upper Ordovician of Scotland and the ancestry of chordates and echinoderms. Palaeontology 33: 631–679.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jefferies, R.P.S., N.A. Brown, and P.E.J. Daley. 1996. The early phylogeny of chordates and echinoderms and the origin of chordate left–right asymmetry and bilateral symmetry. Acta Zoologica 77: 101–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kesling, R.V. 1968. Cystoids. In Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part S, Echinodermata 1 (1), ed. R.C. Moore, S84–S267. Boulder and Lawrence: The Geological Society of America and the University of Kansas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, J.T. 1734. Naturalis Dispositio Echinodermatum. Accessit Lucubratiuncula de Aculeis Echinorum Marinorum, Cum Spicilegio de Belemnitis. Schreiber: Gedani.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolata, D.R. 1973. Scalenocystites strimplei, a new Middle Ordovician belemnocystitid solute from Minnesota. Journal of Paleontology 47: 969–975.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolata, D.R., H.L. Strimple, and C.O. Levorson. 1977. Revision of the Ordovician carpoid family Iowacystidae. Palaeontology 20: 529–557.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kutscher, F. 1975. Beiträge zur Sedimentation und Fossilführung des Hunsrückschiefers. 41. “Cystoideen”-Arten im Hunsrückschiefer. Notizblatt des hessischen Landesamtes für Bodenforschung zu Wiesbaden 108: 43–52.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kutscher, F. 1976. Beiträge zur Sedimentation und Fossilführung des Hunsrückschiefers. 43. Die Asterozoen des Hunsrückschiefers. Geologisches Jahrbuch Hessen 104: 25–37.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaBarbera, M. 1984. Feeding currents and particle capture mechanisms in suspension feeding animals. American Zoologist 24: 71–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lefebvre, B., and O. Fatka. 2003. Palaeogeographical and palaeoecological aspects of the Cambro-Ordovician radiation of echinoderms in Gondwanan Africa and peri-Gondwanan Europe. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 195: 73–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann, W.M. 1949. Pentremitella osoleae n.g. n.sp., ein Blastoid aus dem unterdevonischen Hunsrückschiefer. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie, Paläontologie, Monatshefte 1949: 186–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann, W.M. 1957. Die Asterozoen in den Dachschiefern des rheinischen Unterdevons. Abhandlungen des Hessichen Landesamtes für Bodenforschung 21: 1–160.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lehmann, W.M. 1958. Eine Holothurie zusammen mit Palaenectria devonica und einem Brachiopoden in den unterdevonischen Dachschiefern des Hunsrücks durch Röntgenstrahlen entdeckt. Notizblatt des hessischen Landesamtes für Bodenforschung zu Wiesbaden 86: 81–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, D.L. 1979. Length and spacing of the tube feet in crinoids (Echinodermata) and their role in suspension-feeding. Marine Biology 51: 361–369.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, S.A., and W.F.E. Gurley. 1894. New genera and species of Echinodermata. Bulletin of the Illinois State Museum of Natural History 5: 5–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nardin, E., B. Lefebvre, B. David, and R. Mooi. 2009. La radiation des échinodermes au Paléozoïque inférieur, l’exemple des blastozoaires. Comptes Rendus Palevol 8: 179–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nichols, D. 1972. The water-vascular system in living and fossil echinoderms. Palaeontology 15: 519–538.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsley, R.L. 1972. The Belemnocystidae: solutan homoeomorphs of the Anomalocystitidae. Journal of Paleontology 46: 341–347.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsley, R.L. 1997. The echinoderm classes Stylophora and Homoiostelea: non Calcichordata. Paleontological Society Papers 3: 225–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parsley, R.L., and C.D. Sumrall. 2007. New recumbent echinoderm genera from the Bois d’Arc Formation: Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) of Coal County, Oklahoma. Journal of Paleontology 81: 1486–1493.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paul, C.R.C. 1984. British Ordovician cystoids. Part 2. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, London 136: 65–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paul, C.R.C., and A.B. Smith. 1984. The early radiation and phylogeny of echinoderms. Biological Reviews 59: 443–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rahman, I.A., R.P.S. Jefferies, W.H. Südkamp, and R.D.A. Smith. 2009. Ichnological insights into mitrate palaeobiology. Palaeontology 52: 127–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rievers, J. 1961. Eine neuer Pyrgocystis (Echinod., Edrioasteroidea) aus den Bundenbacher Dachschiefern (Devon). Mitteilungen der bayrischen Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und historische Geologie 1: 9–11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riisgård, H.U., and P.S. Larsen. 2010. Particle capture mechanisms in suspension-feeding invertebrates. Marine Ecology Progress Series 418: 255–293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rozhnov, S.V., and R.P.S. Jefferies. 1996. A new stem-chordate solute from the middle Ordovician of Estonia. Geobios 29: 91–109.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruta, M., and C. Bartels. 1998. A redescription of the anomalocystitid mitrate Rhenocystis latipedunculata from the lower Devonian of Germany. Palaeontology 41: 771–806.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schindler, T., O.E. Sutcliffe, C. Bartels, M. Poschmann, and M. Wuttke. 2002. Lithostratigraphical subdivision and chronostratigraphical position of the middle Kaub Formation (Lower Emsian, Lower Devonian) of the Bundenbach area (Hunsrück, SW Germany). Metalla 9.2: 73–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt, W.E. 1934. Die Crinoideen des Rheinischen Devons. 1. Teil: Die Crinoideen des Hunsrückschiefers. Abhandlungen der preußischen geologischen Landesanstalt, neue Folge 163: 1–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A.B. 2005. The pre-radial history of echinoderms. Geological Journal 40: 255–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, A.B. 2008. Deuterostomes in a twist: the origins of a radical new body plan. Evolution & Development 10: 493–503.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sprinkle, J. 1976. Biostratigraphy and paleoecology of echinoderms from the Rocky Mountains. Brigham Young University Geology Studies 23: 61–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sprinkle, J., and T.E. Guensburg. 2004. Crinozoan, blastozoan, echinozoan, asterozoan, and homalozoan echinoderms. In The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, ed. B.D. Webby, F. Paris, M.L. Droser, and I.G. Percival, 266–280. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strimple, H.L. 1953. A new carpoid from Oklahoma. Journal of Washington Academy of Sciences 43: 105–106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sumrall, C.D. 1997. The role of fossils in the phylogenetic reconstruction of Echinodermata. Paleontological Society Papers 3: 267–288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutcliffe, O.E. 1997. An ophiuroid trackway from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate, Germany. Lethaia 30: 33–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutcliffe, O.E., D.E.G. Briggs, and C. Bartels. 1999. Ichnological evidence for the environmental setting of the Fossil-Lagerstätten in the Devonian Hunsrück Slate, Germany. Geology 27: 275–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutcliffe, O.E., W.H. Südkamp, and R.P.S. Jefferies. 2000. Ichnological evidence on the behaviour of mitrates: two trails associated with the Devonian mitrate Rhenocystis. Lethaia 33: 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, A.O., and H.S. Ladd. 1926. Additional cystoids and crinoids from the Maquoketa Shale of Iowa. University of Iowa Studies in Natural History 11: 5–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ubaghs, G. 1968. Stylophora. In Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part S, Echinodermata 1 (2), ed. R.C. Moore, S495–S565. Boulder and Lawrence: The Geological Society of America and the University of Kansas.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ubaghs, G. 1975. Early Paleozoic echinoderms. Reviews in Earth and Planetary Science 3: 79–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ubaghs, G., and R.A. Robison. 1985. A new homoiostelean and a new eocrinoid from the Middle Cambrian of Utah. The University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions 115: 1–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Withers, R.B. 1933. A new genus of fossil king crabs. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 45: 18–22.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank Ulrich Jansen for the photographs used in Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7 and Olaf Vogel for producing a replica of the slab (both Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Germany). Bertrand Lefebvre (Université de Lyon, France) and Ron Parsley (Tulane University, USA) are thanked for providing detailed reviews that greatly improved the quality of this paper. We are also grateful to Ulrich Jansen, Wouter Südkamp (Bundenbach, Germany), Andrew Smith and Samuel Zamora (both The Natural History Museum, London) for helpful comments. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (grant number NE/H015817/1).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK

    Imran A. Rahman

  2. 61194, Niddatal, Germany

    Hermann Lintz

Authors
  1. Imran A. Rahman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hermann Lintz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Imran A. Rahman.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rahman, I.A., Lintz, H. Dehmicystis globulus, an enigmatic solute (Echinodermata) from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate, Germany. Paläontol Z 86, 59–70 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-011-0116-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-011-0116-y

Keywords

Schlüsselwörter

Search

Navigation