20" Museum Quality Crinoid Plate (6 Species) - Indiana

This is a huge, museum quality, crinoid plate from the Ramp Creek Limestone in Indiana. The entire plate measures 20 inches wide and contains around 24 crinoids representing at least 6 different genera (Cyathocrinus, Macrocrinus, Taxocrinus, Gilbertsocrinus, Sarocrinus, Scytalocrinus).

The crinoids are very 3D and stand out in high relief against the limestone. A specimen like this takes an incredible number of hours to prepare, so at this price, you are basically just paying for the preparation work. The plate would have come out of the ground in several pieces, so it has repairs and restoration work done to the matrix to fill in gaps.

Crinoids from the Ramp Creek Limestone were likely buried in sediment from nearby deltas during storms. The resulting siltstone deposits are soft enough that fossils can be extracted in exquisite, three-dimensional relief.

Crinoids, sometimes commonly referred to as sea lilies, are animals, not plants. They are echinoderms related to starfish, sea urchins, and brittle stars. Many crinoid traits are like other members of their phylum. Such traits include tube feet, radial symmetry, a water vascular system, and appendages in multiples of five (pentameral). They first appeared in the Ordovician (488 million years ago) and some species are still alive today.

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DETAILS
SPECIES
Cyathocrinus, Macrocrinus, Taxocrinus, Gilbertsocrinus, Sarocrinus, Scytalocrinus
LOCATION
Waveland, Indiana
FORMATION
Ramp Creek Limestone
SIZE
Plate 20 x 14"
CATEGORY
SUB CATEGORY
ITEM
#50960
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