Blastoidea

Orophocrinus stelliformis, from here.

Belongs within: Blastozoa.
Contains: Pentremitida, Troosticrinidae, Astrocrinidae, Codasteridae.

The Blastoidea are a Silurian to Permian group of stalked echinoderms with a compact theca crowned, in life, with numerous brachioles (though these are often not preserved attached in fossils).

See also: A beginner's guide to blastoids.

Characters (from Beaver et al. 1967): Hydrospire-bearing, stemmed echinoderms; theca composed of 18 to 21 major plates, which comprise three basals, surmounted by five radials, above which and alternating with them are five deltoids, in addition to five lancet plates in radial position located within radial sinuses; anal side may contain one, two, three, four, or six anal deltoids; hydrospires external or internal; pores and spiracles present mainly in forms with internal hydrospircs. Ambulacra bear numerous biserially constructed brachioles.

<==Blastoidea [Eublastoidea, Radiolata]
    |  i. s.: Codonaster conicus Whidborne 1898 [=Codaster conicus] LMW01
    |--Spiraculata [Eublastida] BF67
    |    |--Pentremitida BF67
    |    |--Troosticrinidae BF67
    |    `--Nucleocrinidae [Nucleoblastidae] BF67
    |         |--Elaeacrinus Roemer 1851 [=Eleacrinus Etheridge & Carpenter 1883, Olivanites Lyon 1857] BF67
    |         |    `--*E. verneuili Roemer 1851 [=*Eleacrinus verneuili, *Olivanites verneuili] BF67
    |         `--+--Nucleocrinus Conrad 1842 BF67
    |            |    `--*N. elegans Conrad 1842 BF67
    |            `--Placoblastus Fay 1961 BF67
    |                 |--*P. obovatus (Barris 1883) [=Elaeacrinus obovatus] BF67
    |                 |--P. angularis BF67
    |                 `--P. ehlersi BF67
    `--Fissiculata [Mesoblastida, Phaenoschismatidae] BF67
         |  i. s.: Junggaroblastus hoxtolgayensis WM03
         |--Polydeltoideus Reimann & Fay 1961 BF67
         |    `--*P. enodatus Reimann & Fay 1961 BF67
         |--Deltoschisma Fay 1961 BF67
         |    `--*D. archiaci (Etheridge & Carpenter 1882) [=Phaenoschisma archiaci] BF67
         |--+--Astrocrinidae BF67
         |  |--Codasteridae BF67
         |  |--Decaschisma Fay 1961 BF67
         |  |    |--*D. pentalobus (Hall 1879) [=Codaster pentalobus] BF67
         |  |    `--D. pulchellum BF67
         |  `--Brachyschisma Reimann 1945 [Brachyschismatidae] BF67
         |       |--*B. corrugatum (Reimann 1935) [=Codaster corrugatus] BF67
         |       `--B. subcrassum BF67
         |--+--Pleuroschisma Reimann 1945 BF67
         |  |    |--*P. lycorias (Hall 1862) [=Pentremites lycorias] BF67
         |  |    `--P. ontario BF67
         |  |--Nymphaeoblastus von Pretz 1907 [Nymphaeoblastidae] BF67
         |  |    |--*N. miljukovi von Pretz 1907 BF67
         |  |    |--N. anossofi BF67
         |  |    `--N. bancroftensis BF67
         |  `--Orophocrinidae [Anthoblastidae, Pentablastidae] BF67
         |       |--+--Pentablastus Sieverts-Doreck 1951 BF67
         |       |  |    `--*P. supracarbonicus Sieverts-Doreck 1951 BF67
         |       |  `--Anthoblastus Wanner 1924 BF67
         |       |       `--*A. brouweri Wanner 1924 BF67
         |       `--Orophocrinus von Seebach 1864 (see below for synonymy) BF67
         |            |--*O. stelliformis (Owen & Shumard 1850) (see below for synonymy) BF67
         |            |--O. catactus BF67
         |            |--O. conicus BF67
         |            |--O. devonicus WM03
         |            |--O. praelongus BF67
         |            `--‘*Mitra’ vera Cumberland 1826 BF67
         `--+--Phaenoblastus Fay 1961 BF67
            |    `--*P. caryophyllatus (deKonick & LeHon 1854) [=Pentremites caryophyllatus] BF67
            |--Hadroblastus Fay 1962 BF67
            |    |--*H. convexus Fay 1962 BF67
            |    `--H. conicus BF67
            `--+--Sundablastus Wanner 1924 BF67
               |    `--*S. weberi Wanner 1924 BF67
               |--Sphaeroschisma Wanner 1924 BF67
               |    `--*S. somoholense Wanner 1924 BF67
               |--Thaumatoblastus Wanner 1924 BF67
               |    `--*T. longiramus Wanner 1924 BF67
               |--Microblastus Eykeren 1942 BF67
               |    `--*M. pocilloformis Eykeren 1942 BF67
               |--Phaenoschisma Etheridge & Carpenter 1882 [incl. Conoschisma Fay 1961] BF67
               |    |--*P. acutum (Sowerby 1834) [=Pentatremites acuta] BF67
               |    `--P. laeviusculum (Rowley 1900) [=Codaster laeviusculus, *Conoschisma laeviusculum] BF67
               |--Timoroblastus Wanner 1924 BF67
               |    |--T. coronatus BF67
               |    |    |--T. c. coronatus BF67
               |    |    |--T. c. tesselatus BF67
               |    |    `--*T. c. typus Wanner 1924 BF67
               |    `--T. granulatus BF67
               `--+--Dipteroblastus Wanner 1940 [Dipteroblastidae] BF67
                  |    `--*D. permicus Wanner 1940 BF67
                  |--Notoblastus Brown 1941 BF67
                  |    `--*N. brevispinus Brown 1941 BF67
                  `--Neoschisma Wanner 1924 [Neoschismatidae, Neoschismidae] BF67
                       |--*N. verrucosum Wanner 1924 BF67
                       `--N. timorense BF67

Orophocrinus von Seebach 1864 [=Codonites Meek & Worthen 1869 non Audouin 1826; incl. Mitra Cumberland 1826 nec Martyn 1784 nec Bolten 1798 nec Lamarck 1798 nec Lesson 1837 nec Albers 1850] BF67

*Orophocrinus stelliformis (Owen & Shumard 1850) [=Pentremites stelliformis, *Codonites stelliformis] BF67

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BF67] Beaver, H. H., R. O. Fay, D. B. Macurda Jr, R. C. Moore & J. Wanner. 1967. Blastoids. In Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology pt. S. Echinodermata 1. General characters. Homalozoa-Crinozoa (except Crinoidea) (R. C. Moore, ed.) vol. 2 pp. S297-S455. The Geological Society of America, Inc., and The University of Kansas: Lawrence (Kansas).

[LMW01] Lane, N. G., C. G. Maples & J. A. Waters. 2001. Revision of Late Devonian (Famennian) and some Early Carboniferous (Tournaisian) crinoids and blastoids from the type Devonian area of north Devon. Palaeontology 44 (6): 1043-1080.

[WM03] Waters, J. A., C. G. Maples, N. G. Lane, S. Marcus, Liao Z.-T., Liu L., Hou H.-F. & Wang J.-X. 2003. A quadrupling of Famennian pelmatozoan diversity: New Late Devonian blastoids and crinoids from northwest China. Journal of Paleontology 77 (5): 922-948.