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An unusual new asteriid (Echinodermata: Asteroidea) from the Cretaceous of California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2016

Daniel B. Blake  and
Dallas O. Peterson
Daniel B. Blake
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801
Dallas O. Peterson
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin System, Van Hise Hall, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706
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Abstract

Pegaster stichos n. gen. and sp., from the Cretaceous Chico Formation of Northern California, is the first-known fossil representative of the hitherto monogeneric Neomorphasterinae (Asteroidea: Asteriidae). Pegaster is morphologically similar to living Neomorphaster, again demonstrating the conservative evolution noted elsewhere among asteroids. Pegaster probably lived in a shallow shelf environment subject to strong storm action whereas Neomorphaster is known only from considerably greater depths; Pegaster provides a new example of an asteroid taxon excluded from shallower habitats through time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Paleontology , Volume 67 , Issue 4 , July 1993 , pp. 586 - 589
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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