Abstract
Dehmicystis globulus is a very poorly known Lower Devonian solute echinoderm from the Hunsrück Slate of Germany. To date, only the holotype has been formally described; however, it is incomplete and does not preserve important characters of the group. We report three new individuals on the same slab of slate, one of which is almost complete. This material informs a full systematic redescription of the genus. The orientation and mode of life of solutes are contentious; our new morphofunctional data strongly suggest that Dehmicystis was oriented with the ambulacrum on the upper surface. Such a position implies a suspension feeding mode of life, with food particles captured from the current using the ambulacrum. The stele may have enabled limited movement on the sea floor but was principally responsible for support, anchorage, and (facultative) attachment.
Kurzfassung
Dehmicystis globulus ist ein kaum bekannter unterdevonischer Stachelhäuter der Ordnung Soluta aus dem Hunsrückschiefer in Deutschland. Bis heute ist nur der Holotyp formal beschrieben worden. Dieser ist jedoch unvollständig. Wichtige Merkmale der Ordnung sind nicht erhalten. Wir berichten über drei neue Individuen auf einer Schieferplatte, von denen eines nahezu komplett erhalten ist. Das Material ermöglicht eine systematische Wiederbeschreibung der Art. Orientierung und Lebensweise der Soluta sind umstritten. Die neuen funktionsmorphologischen Belege weisen auf eine mit dem Ambulacrum nach oben orientierte Lebensweise hin. Dies impliziert eine filtrierende Ernährungsweise unter Aufnahme von Nahrungspartikeln aus der Wassersäule. Der Stiel diente der Fixierung, ggf. Anheftung des Tieres und hat begrenzte Bewegungen auf dem Meeresboden ermöglicht.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barrande, J. 1887. Système Silurien du Centre de la Bohème. Volume 7. Classe des Echinodermes, Ordre des Cystidées. Prague: Rivnác.
Bartels, C., and G. Brassel. 1990. Fossilien im Hunsrückschiefer. Dokumente des Meereslebens im Devon. Idar-Oberstein: Museum Idar-Oberstein.
Bartels, C., D.E.G. Briggs, and G. Brassel. 1998. The Fossils of the Hunsrück Slate. Marine Life in the Devonian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bartels, C., M. Wuttke, and D.E.G. Briggs. (eds.) 2002. The Nahecaris project—releasing the marine life of the Devonian from the Hunsrück Slate of Bundenbach. Metalla (Bochum) 9: 55–138.
Bassler, R.S. 1938. Pelmatozoa Palaeozoica. In Fossilium Catalogus Animalia Part 83, ed. W. Quenstedt, 199. The Hague: Dr. W. Junk.
Bather, F.A. 1913. Caradocian Cystidea from Girvan. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 49: 359–529.
Billings, E. 1859. On the Crinoideae of the lower Silurian rocks of Canada. Figures and Descriptions of Canadian Organic Remains 4: 1–66.
Bottjer, D.J., E.H. Davidson, K.J. Peterson, and R.A. Cameron. 2006. Paleogenomics of echinoderms. Science 314: 956–960.
Bruguière, J.G. 1791. Tableau Encyclopédique et Méthodique des Trois Règnes de la Nature, Contenant l’Helminthologie, ou les vers Infusoires, les vers Intestins, les vers Mollusques, etc., Volume 7. Paris: Panckoucke.
Caster, K.E. 1968. Homoiostelea. In Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part S, Echinodermata 1 (2), ed. R.C. Moore, S581–S623. Boulder and Lawrence: The Geological Society of America and the University of Kansas.
Daley, P.E.J. 1992. The anatomy of the solute Girvanicystis batheri (?Chordata) from the Upper Ordovician of Scotland and a new species of Girvanicystis from the Upper Ordovician of South Wales. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 105: 353–375.
Daley, P.E.J. 1995. Anatomy, locomotion and ontogeny of the solute Castericystis vali from the Middle Cambrian of Utah. Geobios 28: 585–615.
Daley, P.E.J. 1996. The first solute which is attached as an adult: a Mid-Cambrian fossil from Utah with echinoderm and chordate affinities. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 117: 405–440.
David, B., B. Lefebvre, R. Mooi, and R.L. Parsley. 2000. Are homalozoans echinoderms? An answer from the extraxial-axial theory. Paleobiology 26: 529–555.
Dehm, R. 1932. Cystoideen aus dem rheinischen Unterdevon. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Paläontologie, Beilagen-Band, Abteilung A 69: 63–93.
Dehm, R. 1934. Untersuchungen an Cystoideen des rheinischen Unterdevons. Sitzungsberichte der Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftlichen Abteilung der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München für 1934: 19–43.
Dehm, R. 1961. Ein zweiter Seeigel, Porechinus porosus nov. gen. nov. spec. aus dem rheinischen Unter-Devon. Mitteilungen der Bayerischen Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Historische Geologie 1: 1–8.
Domínguez, P., R.P.S. Jefferies, and M.D. Gil Cid. 2002. An annotated check-list of genera and species of Carpoids. Coloquios de Paleontología 53: 33–68.
Gill, E.D., and K.E. Caster. 1960. Carpoid echinoderms from the Silurian and Devonian of Australia. Bulletins of American Paleontology 41: 1–71.
Glass, A. 2006. New observations on some poorly known protasterid ophiuroids from the lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate of Germany. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 80: 68–87.
Glass, A., and D.B. Blake. 2004. Preservation of tube feet in an ophiuroid (Echinodermata) from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate of Germany and a redescription of Bundenbachia beneckei and Palaeophiomyxa grandis. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 78: 73–95.
Gradstein, F.M., J.G. Ogg, and A.G. Smith (eds.). 2004. A geologic time scale 2004. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Haude, R. 1983. Kaum bekannte und seltene Echinodermen aus dem Mitteldevon des rechtsrheinischen Schiefergebirges. Aufschluss 34: 101–110.
Jaekel, O. 1895. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der palaeozoischen Crinoiden Deutschlands. Paläontologischen Abhandlungen 7: 1–116.
Jaekel, O. 1901. Über Carpoideen; eine neue Klasse von Pelmatozoen. Zeitschrift der deutschen geologischen Gellschaft 52: 661–677.
Jaekel, O. 1918. Phylogenie und System der Pelmatozoen. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 3: 1–128.
Jefferies, R.P.S. 1990. The solute Dendrocystoides scoticus from the upper Ordovician of Scotland and the ancestry of chordates and echinoderms. Palaeontology 33: 631–679.
Jefferies, R.P.S., N.A. Brown, and P.E.J. Daley. 1996. The early phylogeny of chordates and echinoderms and the origin of chordate left–right asymmetry and bilateral symmetry. Acta Zoologica 77: 101–122.
Kesling, R.V. 1968. Cystoids. In Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part S, Echinodermata 1 (1), ed. R.C. Moore, S84–S267. Boulder and Lawrence: The Geological Society of America and the University of Kansas.
Klein, J.T. 1734. Naturalis Dispositio Echinodermatum. Accessit Lucubratiuncula de Aculeis Echinorum Marinorum, Cum Spicilegio de Belemnitis. Schreiber: Gedani.
Kolata, D.R. 1973. Scalenocystites strimplei, a new Middle Ordovician belemnocystitid solute from Minnesota. Journal of Paleontology 47: 969–975.
Kolata, D.R., H.L. Strimple, and C.O. Levorson. 1977. Revision of the Ordovician carpoid family Iowacystidae. Palaeontology 20: 529–557.
Kutscher, F. 1975. Beiträge zur Sedimentation und Fossilführung des Hunsrückschiefers. 41. “Cystoideen”-Arten im Hunsrückschiefer. Notizblatt des hessischen Landesamtes für Bodenforschung zu Wiesbaden 108: 43–52.
Kutscher, F. 1976. Beiträge zur Sedimentation und Fossilführung des Hunsrückschiefers. 43. Die Asterozoen des Hunsrückschiefers. Geologisches Jahrbuch Hessen 104: 25–37.
LaBarbera, M. 1984. Feeding currents and particle capture mechanisms in suspension feeding animals. American Zoologist 24: 71–84.
Lefebvre, B., and O. Fatka. 2003. Palaeogeographical and palaeoecological aspects of the Cambro-Ordovician radiation of echinoderms in Gondwanan Africa and peri-Gondwanan Europe. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 195: 73–97.
Lehmann, W.M. 1949. Pentremitella osoleae n.g. n.sp., ein Blastoid aus dem unterdevonischen Hunsrückschiefer. Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie, Paläontologie, Monatshefte 1949: 186–191.
Lehmann, W.M. 1957. Die Asterozoen in den Dachschiefern des rheinischen Unterdevons. Abhandlungen des Hessichen Landesamtes für Bodenforschung 21: 1–160.
Lehmann, W.M. 1958. Eine Holothurie zusammen mit Palaenectria devonica und einem Brachiopoden in den unterdevonischen Dachschiefern des Hunsrücks durch Röntgenstrahlen entdeckt. Notizblatt des hessischen Landesamtes für Bodenforschung zu Wiesbaden 86: 81–86.
Meyer, D.L. 1979. Length and spacing of the tube feet in crinoids (Echinodermata) and their role in suspension-feeding. Marine Biology 51: 361–369.
Miller, S.A., and W.F.E. Gurley. 1894. New genera and species of Echinodermata. Bulletin of the Illinois State Museum of Natural History 5: 5–53.
Nardin, E., B. Lefebvre, B. David, and R. Mooi. 2009. La radiation des échinodermes au Paléozoïque inférieur, l’exemple des blastozoaires. Comptes Rendus Palevol 8: 179–188.
Nichols, D. 1972. The water-vascular system in living and fossil echinoderms. Palaeontology 15: 519–538.
Parsley, R.L. 1972. The Belemnocystidae: solutan homoeomorphs of the Anomalocystitidae. Journal of Paleontology 46: 341–347.
Parsley, R.L. 1997. The echinoderm classes Stylophora and Homoiostelea: non Calcichordata. Paleontological Society Papers 3: 225–248.
Parsley, R.L., and C.D. Sumrall. 2007. New recumbent echinoderm genera from the Bois d’Arc Formation: Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) of Coal County, Oklahoma. Journal of Paleontology 81: 1486–1493.
Paul, C.R.C. 1984. British Ordovician cystoids. Part 2. Monograph of the Palaeontographical Society, London 136: 65–152.
Paul, C.R.C., and A.B. Smith. 1984. The early radiation and phylogeny of echinoderms. Biological Reviews 59: 443–481.
Rahman, I.A., R.P.S. Jefferies, W.H. Südkamp, and R.D.A. Smith. 2009. Ichnological insights into mitrate palaeobiology. Palaeontology 52: 127–138.
Rievers, J. 1961. Eine neuer Pyrgocystis (Echinod., Edrioasteroidea) aus den Bundenbacher Dachschiefern (Devon). Mitteilungen der bayrischen Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und historische Geologie 1: 9–11.
Riisgård, H.U., and P.S. Larsen. 2010. Particle capture mechanisms in suspension-feeding invertebrates. Marine Ecology Progress Series 418: 255–293.
Rozhnov, S.V., and R.P.S. Jefferies. 1996. A new stem-chordate solute from the middle Ordovician of Estonia. Geobios 29: 91–109.
Ruta, M., and C. Bartels. 1998. A redescription of the anomalocystitid mitrate Rhenocystis latipedunculata from the lower Devonian of Germany. Palaeontology 41: 771–806.
Schindler, T., O.E. Sutcliffe, C. Bartels, M. Poschmann, and M. Wuttke. 2002. Lithostratigraphical subdivision and chronostratigraphical position of the middle Kaub Formation (Lower Emsian, Lower Devonian) of the Bundenbach area (Hunsrück, SW Germany). Metalla 9.2: 73–88.
Schmidt, W.E. 1934. Die Crinoideen des Rheinischen Devons. 1. Teil: Die Crinoideen des Hunsrückschiefers. Abhandlungen der preußischen geologischen Landesanstalt, neue Folge 163: 1–149.
Smith, A.B. 2005. The pre-radial history of echinoderms. Geological Journal 40: 255–280.
Smith, A.B. 2008. Deuterostomes in a twist: the origins of a radical new body plan. Evolution & Development 10: 493–503.
Sprinkle, J. 1976. Biostratigraphy and paleoecology of echinoderms from the Rocky Mountains. Brigham Young University Geology Studies 23: 61–74.
Sprinkle, J., and T.E. Guensburg. 2004. Crinozoan, blastozoan, echinozoan, asterozoan, and homalozoan echinoderms. In The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, ed. B.D. Webby, F. Paris, M.L. Droser, and I.G. Percival, 266–280. New York: Columbia University Press.
Strimple, H.L. 1953. A new carpoid from Oklahoma. Journal of Washington Academy of Sciences 43: 105–106.
Sumrall, C.D. 1997. The role of fossils in the phylogenetic reconstruction of Echinodermata. Paleontological Society Papers 3: 267–288.
Sutcliffe, O.E. 1997. An ophiuroid trackway from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate, Germany. Lethaia 30: 33–39.
Sutcliffe, O.E., D.E.G. Briggs, and C. Bartels. 1999. Ichnological evidence for the environmental setting of the Fossil-Lagerstätten in the Devonian Hunsrück Slate, Germany. Geology 27: 275–278.
Sutcliffe, O.E., W.H. Südkamp, and R.P.S. Jefferies. 2000. Ichnological evidence on the behaviour of mitrates: two trails associated with the Devonian mitrate Rhenocystis. Lethaia 33: 1–12.
Thomas, A.O., and H.S. Ladd. 1926. Additional cystoids and crinoids from the Maquoketa Shale of Iowa. University of Iowa Studies in Natural History 11: 5–18.
Ubaghs, G. 1968. Stylophora. In Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part S, Echinodermata 1 (2), ed. R.C. Moore, S495–S565. Boulder and Lawrence: The Geological Society of America and the University of Kansas.
Ubaghs, G. 1975. Early Paleozoic echinoderms. Reviews in Earth and Planetary Science 3: 79–98.
Ubaghs, G., and R.A. Robison. 1985. A new homoiostelean and a new eocrinoid from the Middle Cambrian of Utah. The University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions 115: 1–24.
Withers, R.B. 1933. A new genus of fossil king crabs. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 45: 18–22.
Acknowledgments
We thank Ulrich Jansen for the photographs used in Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7 and Olaf Vogel for producing a replica of the slab (both Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Germany). Bertrand Lefebvre (Université de Lyon, France) and Ron Parsley (Tulane University, USA) are thanked for providing detailed reviews that greatly improved the quality of this paper. We are also grateful to Ulrich Jansen, Wouter Südkamp (Bundenbach, Germany), Andrew Smith and Samuel Zamora (both The Natural History Museum, London) for helpful comments. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (grant number NE/H015817/1).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rahman, I.A., Lintz, H. Dehmicystis globulus, an enigmatic solute (Echinodermata) from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate, Germany. Paläontol Z 86, 59–70 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-011-0116-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12542-011-0116-y