Supplementary data from: Phylogeny and macroevolution of a “dead clade walking”: a systematic revision of the Paragaricocrinidae (Crinoidea)

The Paragaricocrinidae is an enigmatic Late Paleozoic family of camerate
crinoids that retained a robustly constructed calyx more typical of
Devonian to Early Mississippian crinoids. The discovery of the oldest
member of this family, Tuscumbiacrinus madisonensis n. gen., n. sp.,
initiated a phylogenetic investigation of the Paragaricocrinidae and
consideration of its diversification and paleobiogeographic distribution.
Phylogenetic analyses demonstrate the need to describe Tuscumbiacrinus n.
gen and conduct revisions to preexisting taxa, resulting in the
description of Palenciacrinus mudaensis n. gen., n. sp.; Pulcheracrinus n.
gen.; Nipponicrinus hashimotoi n. gen., n. sp.; and Nipponicrinus
akiyoshiensis n. gen., n. sp. Also, Megaliocrinus exotericus Strimple,
1951, is reassigned to Pulcherarcrinus n. sp. In addition to having an
anachronistic morphology, relatively few specimens are known through the
~76 million-year duration of this family. This pattern is unlikely to have
resulted from low fossil sampling alone, and instead likely reflects low
abundance and/or taxonomic richness of a long-lived waning clade. From its
apparent origination in Laurussia during the Mississippian, it diversified
into a cosmopolitan clade. Following a diversity drop during the
Pennsylvanian, the Paragaricocrinidae persisted but exemplified
characteristics of a dead clade walking until its eventual extinction
during the Middle Permian (Wordian).