Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Cheiropteraster giganteus Brittle Star Fossil

 


The image shown above is brittle star echinoderm fossil called Cheiropteraster giganteus (Stürtz 1890). This animal fossil dates to the Early Devonian Period between 409 and 403 million years ago of the Paleozoic Era. While not labeled the fossil was probably found in Germany.

The fossil was on display in the entrance way of The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago Illinois, USA as of August 2020. Accession number is P 1029.

I believe the genus and species was named by Bernard Stürtz (1845-1928) in 1890.