A stalk fragment of the millericrinid crinoid Pomatocrinus sp. from the lower Kimmeridgian of Małogoszcz Quarry (Central Poland) consists of a partly preserved holdfast and a distal stalk fragment, which yields numerous epibionts and echinoid grazing traces. Importantly, the described stalk shows evidence of narrowing of the proximal part. Such a pathological structure of the apical part of the column likely represents a nonregenerative overgrowth of the stalk following the loss of the proximal column and crown due to nektonic predation as inferred from associated bite marks. Analogous pathological structures in fossil crinoids, although rare, are known from as far back as the Ordovician.
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1 January 2014
Life and Death: An Intriguing History of a Jurassic Crinoid
Rafał Lach,
Dawid Trzęsiok,
Patrycja Szopa
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Paleontological Research
Vol. 18 • No. 1
January 2014
Vol. 18 • No. 1
January 2014
Crinoidea
Kimmeridgian
overgrowth
prédation
regeneration