Presumed postlarval pentacrinoids from the Lower Devonian Hunsrück Slate, Germany

Several tiny crinoids with crowns as small as 1 mm, or less, in width are newly recognized from the Hunsruck Slate of southwestern Germany. The presence of erect arms above an amorphous calyx in some specimens can be inferred. Based on comparison with the size and gross morphology of developmental stages in living crinoids, these tiny Hunsruck crinoids are judged to be at an early postlarval stage that is analogous to the pentacrinoid stage just after development from the stalked, but armless, smaller cystidean larval stage found in both living comatulids and isocrinids. Some of these tiny crinoids have a stalk up to 4 mm long attached to a now pyritized former substrate. Their clustered occurrence suggests gregarious settlement of larvae. Taxonomic identification of these presumed pentacrinoids is not possible, even to the sub-class level, although they are preserved with larger juveniles of the cladids Propoteriocrinus and Lasiocrinus. These larger juveniles exhibit 3-D pyritized calcite plates, whereas the probable pentacrinoids appear to be preserved as flattened, micro-crystalline pyritized dermal tissues that enclosed lightly calcified, porous ossicles. The pentacrinoids were likely buried within weeks or months of hatching, based on developmental stages in similar-sized living crinoids. These tiny crinoids, presumably pentacrinoids, are a further example of the extraordinarily detailed preservation of delicate tissues in pyrite from the Hunsruck Slate. They are most likely the pentacrinoid stage from one or more of the crinoid taxa (30 genera) present in the Hunsruck Slate. Assuming these are not microcrinoids, they are the first report of pentacrinoids from the fossil record and document that a Palaeozoic sister group to modern crinoids had similar developmental stages.