The topic of the November 2024 Paleontology meeting was “From Muldraugh to Museum: The Unexpected Journey of Crinoid Amphoracrinus tenax“. It was presented by ESCONI member Gretel Monreal. This presentation will include the investigative process for recognizing a new species of crinoid and explaining what this simple fossil can tell us. 

Amphoracrinus tenax was described in a paper published in the Journal of Paleontology.

Abstract

The youngest species of Amphoracrinus, A. tenax new species, is described from the Muldraugh Member of the Borden Formation (early Viséan) of north-central Kentucky. With this new occurrence, both the oldest and youngest named species of Amphoracrinus are from North America. Numerous Tournaisian and Viséan crinoid faunas are documented in the United States, but only four are known to contain Amphoracrinus. Morphological analysis indicates that A. tenax is more closely aligned with species from China than with species from Western Europe or other species from North America, where Amphoracrinus was most diverse and abundant, which has implications for understanding paleogeographic dispersal. The holotype of A. tenax was partially disarticulated on the seafloor before burial, and final burial occurred early during disarticulation. The relative state of disarticulation from pinnules to columnals suggests that plates bound only with ligaments disarticulated as a function of surface area of ligaments binding an articulation.