Data from: An echinoderm Lagerstätte from the Upper Ordovician (Katian), Ontario: taxonomic re-evaluation and description of new dicyclic camerate crinoids

The Upper Ordovician (lower Katian) Bobcaygeon and Verulam formations from the Lake Simcoe region of Ontario contain a highly diverse echinoderm assemblage that is herein recognized as a Konservat-Lagerstätte. Although fossil crinoids have long been recognized from these formations, the fauna has not received a comprehensive taxonomic evaluation since Springer’s classic 1911 monograph. Recent extensive collection and preparation of new material from the Bobcaygeon and Verulam formations near Brechin, Ontario recovered numerous exceptionally preserved crinoid specimens with arms, stems, and attachment structures intact. The Brechin Lagerstätte is the most taxonomically diverse Katian crinoid fauna, with more than 20 crinoid genera represented in this collection.
Here, all dicyclic crinoids belonging to subclass Camerata from the Brechin Lagerstätte are evaluated. The following four genera and seven species are described from the fauna, including one new genus and four new species: Reteocrinus stellaris, Reteocrinus alveolatus, Archaeocrinus sundayi n. sp., Archaeocrinus maraensis n. sp., Priscillacrinus elegans n. gen. n. sp., Cleiocrinus regius, and Cleiocrinus lepidotus n. sp. The exceptional preservation of this collection provides an opportunity to describe more fully the morphologic and ontogenetic details of known Ordovician crinoid taxa, to conduct a taxonomic re-evaluation of many species, to describe new taxa, and to provide a framework for subsequent studies of crinoid community paleoecology.

产自加拿大安大略省锡姆科湖地区的上奥陶统凯迪阶下部Bobcaygeon组与Verulam组产出物种多样性极高的棘皮动物组合，本次研究将其确立为一处特异埋藏化石库（Konservat-Lagerstätte）。此前虽已在上述地层中发现化石海百合，但自斯普林格（Springer）1911年的经典专著以来，该动物群尚未得到全面的分类学评估。近期研究人员对安大略省布雷钦（Brechin）附近的Bobcaygeon组与Verulam组展开大规模采集与标本制备工作，获取了大量保存极为完好的海百合标本，其腕、茎及附着结构均完整保留。布雷钦特异埋藏化石库是凯迪阶时期分类多样性最高的海百合动物群，本次采集的标本共包含20余个海百合属。本次研究对布雷钦特异埋藏化石库中隶属于围杯亚纲（Camerata）的所有双环海百合类群进行了系统评估。本研究共描述该动物群中的4属7种，其中包括1新属及4新种：星网海百合（Reteocrinus stellaris）、蜂窝网海百合（Reteocrinus alveolatus）、桑迪古海百合（Archaeocrinus sundayi n. sp.）、马拉古海百合（Archaeocrinus maraensis n. sp.）、优雅普里西拉海百合（Priscilacrinus elegans n. gen. n. sp.）、王室克利奥海百合（Cleiocrinus regius）及鳞形克利奥海百合（Cleiocrinus lepidotus n. sp.）。该批标本的极佳保存状态为我们全面描述已知奥陶纪海百合类群的形态学与个体发育细节、对多个物种开展分类学重新评估、建立新类群，并为后续海百合群落古生态学研究提供理论框架奠定了基础。