Ctenocystis
sp. (possibly Ctenocystis utahensis)
Phylum
Echinodermata; Family Ctenocystoidea
Geological
Time: Middle Cambriam
Size: 2-4
mm long
Fossil
Site: Wheeler Formation, House Range, Millard County, Utah
Coming
from the Cambrian Wheeler Formation deposits of Millard County,
Utah this is a grouping of examples of a member of the Ctenocystoidea,
a small class of bilaterally-symmetrical stem echinoderms. Ctenocystis
was a flattened rectangular animal covered with tesselated plates.
It derives its named from the ctenoid (comb-like) plates that circled
the oral opening. One researcher has conjectured that these plates
were used to drag the animal along the seafloor. Ctenocystis is
found in the same quarry as Gogia, but only occupies 3 thin (5 mm)
layers, offering another example of the stem-group echinoderms to
be found in the Middle Cambrian of Utah.
Also
See: Utah Cambrian Explosion
Fossils
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