Palaeocoma

Palaeocoma is an extinct genus of brittle stars that lived during the Middle Triassic to Early Jurassic Periods. Its fossils have been found in Europe.

Distribution

The genus Palaeocoma was revised by Hess (1960, 1962) and is known from the Middle Triassic (Ladinian) to the Lower Jurassic (Toarcian) with occurrences reported from the United Kingdom, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Serbia and Montenegro.

Type species

Palaeocoma milleri (Phillips, 1829) [= P. gaveyi and P. egertoni according to Jaselli (2015, p. 192)], an Early Jurassic (Sinemurian and Pliensbachian) species recorded from France, Germany, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Lombardy in Italy.

Synonymised names

Ophioderma carinata Wright, 1866

Ophioderma egertoni (Broderip, 1840)

Ophioderma gaveyi Wright, 1854

Ophioderma milleri (Phillips, 1829)

Ophiura egertoni Broderip, 1840

Ophiura milleri Phillips, 1829

Ophiurella milleri (Phillips, 1829)

Palaeocoma egertoni (Broderip, 1840)

Palaeocoma gaveyi (Wright, 1854)

Other species

• Palaeocoma escheri Herr, 1865 [= Ophiura ventrocarinata Quenstedt 1876] was redescribed by Hess (1960) and recorded from the Lower Lias Staffelegg Formation, of Schambelen near Mülligen in the Canton of Aargau of northern Switzerland. It occurs in the Hettangian, the earliest age and lowest stage of the Jurassic period and, specifically, the Psiloceras planorbis Ammonite Zone.
• Palaeocoma raiblana (Toula, 1887). This species has so far only been found in the Triassic Wengener Schichten Formation (Ladinian) of Budva in Serbia and Montenegro).

Gallery

References