Absurdaster, a new genus of basal atelostomate from the Early Cretaceous of Europe and its phylogenetic position

Abstract

Field work in the Lower Cretaceous of the Dolomites (Italy) has resulted in the recovery of a new genus of ‘disasteroid’ echinoid, which successively was also discovered in slightly older strata in Northern Hungary. This new genus, Absurdaster, is characterized by its highly modified, disjunct apical disc in which all genital plate except genital plate 2 are reduced or fused. The gonopores (which may be multiple) have shifted and pierce interambulacral plates. Anteriorly ambulacrum III is distinctly sunken and forms a distinct frontal notch, while the posterior end is pointed and features a small sharply defined posterior face bearing the periproct.Two new species are established: Absurdaster puezensis sp. nov. from the Upper Hauterivian to Lower Barremian Puez Formation of Northern Italy is characterized by its rudimentary ambulacral pores in the paired ambulacra, high hexagonal ambulacral plates aborally and multiple gonopores in the most adapical plates of interambulacral columns 1b and 4a. Absurdaster hungaricus sp. nov. from the Lower Hauterivian Bersek Marl Formation of Northern Hungary, in contrast, shows circumflexed ambulacral pores, low ambulacral plates, a single gonopore each in the most adapical plates of interambulacral columns 1b and 4a and a flaring posterior end, with sharp margin and invaginated periproct. In addition to those two species Collyrites meriani Ooster, 1865 from the uppermost Berriasian to basal Barremian of Switzerland is attributed to the new genus. Despite the poor knowledge on this form it seems to be distinguished from the new species by its smaller ambulacral plates and higher interambulacral/ambulacral plate ratio.Phylogenetic analyses based on previous work by Barras (2007) and Saucède et al. (2007) indicate that the new genus is a highly derived stem-group member of the Atelostomata close to the split of holasteroids and spatangoids. A combined analysis based on a subset of the characters employed in these two studies for the first time results in a fully resolved tree for ‘disasteroids’.Absurdaster, shows two notable morphological peculiarities: 1) it is one of the first echinoids to develop fascioles and exhibits a yet unknown type of fasciole circling the periproct, termed circumanal fasciole here; 2) it is extraordinary among echinoderms as its extraxial skeleton is reduced to a single plate, the madreporite (genital plate 2), and because its genital pores pierce axial elements rather than extraxial ones.

Multistratigraphic records of the Lower Cretaceous (Valanginian–Cenomanian) Puez key area in N. Italy

“…bivalves (Schneider et al, 2013) and 200 echinoids (Kroh et al, 2014) were collected. Ammonoids represent almost the totality of the macrofauna (96%).…”

Mass occurrence of echinoids in an Oligocene hydrocarbon-seep limestone from the Olympic Peninsula, Washington State, USA

“…Barras, 2007; Kroh et al . 2014). The taxonomic position of the Bullman Creek echinoids is therefore of vital interest as it may shed further light on the adaptation of echinoids to chemosynthesis-based environments.…”

“…Available data suggest that adaptation to seep environments developed in at least two different irregular echinoid lineages (Spatangoida: Sarsiaster and stem-group Atelostomata: Tithonia, cf. Barras, 2007;Kroh et al 2014). The taxonomic position of the Bullman Creek echinoids is therefore of vital interest as it may shed further light on the adaptation of echinoids to chemosynthesis-based environments.…”

Phylogeny and biogeography of some Cretaceous spatangoid echinoids with special emphasis on taxa from the Western Interior Seaway

“…Spatangoids are deposit-feeding burrowers that radiated in the Cretaceous and survive into the present (Mortensen, 1950; Fischer, 1966; Smith, 1984; Mooi, 2001; Smith and Wright, 2008, 2012; Smith and Kroh, 2011; Kroh and Mooi, 2018). They have also been incorporated into phylogenetic analyses that considered both living and fossil taxa (Villier et al, 2004; Stockley et al, 2005; Saucède et al, 2007; Kroh and Smith, 2010; Kroh et al, 2014). The goal of the present study is to focus on species-level phylogenetic relationships of Cretaceous spatangoids, with special emphasis on taxa from the WIS, although it was not possible to consider to any great extent the diverse range of taxa present in the Mississippi Embayment, an important and related biogeographic region (see Zachos, 2017), as taxa in this region primarily radiated too late to be relevant to the present analysis.…”