Fossil Spatangoid Echinoids of Cuba

📖 The Scoop

The fossil spatangoid echinoids of Cuba are described based for the most part on specimens in the Sánchez Roig Collection. Seventy-nine species are recognized including 10 from the Late Cretaceous, 36 from the Eocene, 20 from the Oligocene-Miocene, 11 from the Miocene, and 2 of uncertain age. Three of the Eocene species are new: Schizaster formelli, Linthia monteroae, and Antillaster albeari. A new genus of schizasterid is described, Caribbaster, with the Eocene Prenaster loveni Cotteau as the type-species. A new Asterostoma, A. pawsoni, is described from the Eocene of Jamaica. The Eocene age of the Cuban echinoid-bearing localities is confirmed by the presence outside Cuba of many of the same species in beds dated on other fossils. Some evidence supports the Miocene determinations, but the echinoids are of little assistance in resolving the question whether the Cuban beds attributed to the Oligocene are Oligocene or Miocene. Cuban, and in general, the Caribbean Tertiary echinoid faunas are distinct from those in Europe and the Mediterranean. Many genera are confined to the Caribbean. The Cuban fauna is also different from that found nearby in Florida. This difference may be due to a suggested greater depth of water in Cuba.

Genre: Science / Paleontology (fancy, right?)