Oegophiurida

The Lower Devonian Furcaster palaeozoicus, photographed by John Adamek.

Belongs within: Ophiuroidea.

The Oegophiurida are a group of brittle stars lacking oral or radial shields. The greater diversity of oegophiuridans is extinct, but the living Ophiocanops has been identified as a surviving oegophiuridan.

Characters (from Ubaghs 1978): No oral or radial shields, dorsal or ventral arm plates, genital plates or bursae; disc covered by skin or imbricating scales; narrow frame at disc margin may be present; gastric coeca entering arms.

<==Oegophiurida
    |--Ophiocanops [Ophiocanopidae] F67
    |--Furcaster Stürtz 1900 (see below for synonymy) B01
    |    |--*F. palaeozoicus Stürtz 1886 B01
    |    |--F. aequoreus Boczarowski 2001 B01
    |    |--F. cataphractus Boczarowski 2001 B01
    |    |--‘Prosynapta’ eiseliana Spandel 1898 [=*Calclyra eiseliana] FE66
    |    `--F. separatus Haude 1995 B01
    `--Protasteridae [Lysophiurina] B01
         |--Protaster Forbes 1849 B01
         |--Astutuaster Boczarowski 2001 B01
         |    `--*A. athleta Boczarowski 2001 B01
         |--Weigeltura Boczarowski 2001 B01
         |    |--*W. beckeri Boczarowski 2001 B01
         |    `--W. austera Boczarowski 2001 B01
         `--Chattaster Hahn & Brauckmann 1981 B01
              |--*C. hueffneri (Schöndorf 1915) B01
              `--C. loculus Boczarowski 2001 B01

Furcaster Stürtz 1900 [incl. Calclyra Frizzell & Exline 1955, Prosynapta Spandel 1898 non Cuénot 1891; Calclyridae, Furcasteridae] B01

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B01] Boczarowski, A. 2001. Isolated sclerites of Devonian non-pelmatozoan echinoderms. Palaeontologia Polonica 59: 1-219.

[F67] Fell, H. B. 1967. Echinoderm ontogeny. In Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology pt. S. Echinodermata 1. General characters. Homalozoa-Crinozoa (except Crinoidea) (R. C. Moore, ed.) vol. 1 pp. S60-S85. The Geological Society of America, Inc., and The University of Kansas: Lawrence (Kansas).

[FE66] Frizzell, D. L., & H. Exline. 1966. Holothuroidea—fossil record. In: Moore, R. C. (ed.) Treatise on invertebrate Paleontology pt U. Echinodermata 3 vol. 2, pp. U646-U672. The Geological Society of America, Inc., and The University of Kansas Press.

Ubaghs, G. 1978. Classification of the echinoderms. In Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology pt. T. Echinodermata 2. Crinoidea (R. C. Moore & C. Teichert, eds) vol. 1 p. T359-T367. The Geological Society of America, Inc.: Boulder (Colorado), and The University of Kansas: Lawrence (Kansas).