Nebraska Invertebrate Fossils - Echinoderms Plattsburg Formation

Ethelocriunus magister

Ethelocriunus magister

Description: The large crowns with complex, branching, pinnulated arms and thick, ornamented plates suggests that "Ethelocrinus magister" preferred fairly warm, fairly shallow water environments in which food supplies of organic matter suspended in water were abundant. Peter F. Holterhoff (1988) documented the complexity of the crinoids' filtration fans with water depth and available food supplies while studying crinoids from the Stanton Formation in Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. W. D. "Ted" White of Omaha, Nebraska, a well-known amateur collector and recipient of the Paleontological Society's Strimple Award collected these specimens from outcrops of the Merriam Member of the Plattsburg Formation that are exposed near Louisville in Cass County.

Ethelocriunus magister

Ethelocriunus magister

Description: The large crowns with complex, branching, pinnulated arms and thick, ornamented plates suggests that "Ethelocrinus magister" preferred fairly warm, fairly shallow water environments in which food supplies of organic matter suspended in water were abundant. Peter F. Holterhoff (1988) documented the complexity of the crinoids' filtration fans with water depth and available food supplies while studying crinoids from the Stanton Formation in Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. W. D. "Ted" White of Omaha, Nebraska, a well-known amateur collector and recipient of the Paleontological Society's Strimple Award collected these specimens from outcrops of the Merriam Member of the Plattsburg Formation that are exposed near Louisville in Cass County.