Diminutive Cambrian Utah Echinoderm Fossils

Description: Coming from the Cambrian Wheeler Formation deposits of Millard County, Utah this is a multiple example of a member of the Ctenocystoidea, a small class of bilaterally-symmetrical stem echinoderms. This is Ctenocystis, a flattened rectangular animal covered with tesselated plates. It derives its named from the ctenoid (comb-like) plates that circled the oral opening. One researcher has postulated that these plates were used to drag the animal along the seafloor. Ctenocystis is found in the same quarry as Gogia, but only occupies 3 thin (5 mm) layers, offering another example of the stem-group echinoderms to be found in the Middle Cambrian of Utah. See my other offerings for a most unusual association of both Ctenocystis and Gogia.