Pentremites Temporal range: Early Carboniferous Preκ κ O S D C P T J K Pg N | |
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Pentremites godoni from the Lower Carboniferous of Illinois. | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Echinodermata |
Class: | Blastoidea |
Order: | Spiraculata |
Family: | Pentremitidae |
Genus: | Pentremites |
Species | |
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Pentremites is an extinct genus of blastoid echinoderm belonging to the family Pentremitidae.
Description
These stalked echinoderms averaged a height of about 11 centimetres (4.3 in) but occasionally ranged up to about 3 times that size. They, like other blastoids, superficially resemble their distant relatives, the crinoids or sea lilies, having a near-identical, planktivorous lifestyle living on the sea floor attached by a stalk. As with all other blastoids, species of Pentremites trapped food floating in the currents by means of tentacle-like appendages.
Pentremites species lived in the early to middle Carboniferous, from 360.7 to 314.6 Ma. Its fossils are known from North America.
References
- Fossils (Smithsonian Handbooks) by David Ward (Page 190)
Taxon identifiers | |
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Pentremites |
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