Name:
Iocrinus subcrassus, Carnyella pilea
Age: Upper Ordovician
Formation: McMillan Formation
Location: Dearborn County, Indiana
Size: Plate is 6.2 inches across
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Here is an extremely collectible plate of Ordovician echinoderms. This slab of echinoderms is from the McMillan Formation of Indiana. There is a fabulous example of Iocrinus subcrassus on the plate. This crinoid has a small, urn-shaped cup with extremely stellate plates. The long, multi-branching arms are wonderfully splayed and beautifully displayed. The crinoid has a lengthy portion of stem tightly attached to the cup. There are also THREE brachiopods on the plate with TWO EDRIOASTEROIDS ATTACHED (two Carneyella pilea). Edrioasteroids were primitive echinoderms which consisted of a flexible theca composed of numerous polygonal plates. In this specimen, the large edrioasteroids have attached themselves to a brachiopod. This is probably not a symbiotic relationship, nor was the brachiopod under attack - the aragonitic/calcitic shell of the brachiopod merely provided a hard substrate for the edrioasteroid to rest upon. There is also a large Flexicalymene cephalon and a detailed bryozoan preserved on the plate. This is one of the coolest association specimens of Ordovician fossils we have ever seen.
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