Uintacrinus
Encyclopedia
Uintacrinus is an extinct genus
of crinoid
from the Cretaceous
of Kansas
. It was unusual among crinoids because it had no stalk, and probably floated above the seafloor. It lived in the Western Interior Seaway
. This crinoid was a colonial animal with ten long arms each that it used to capture prey.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of crinoid
Crinoid
Crinoids are marine animals that make up the class Crinoidea of the echinoderms . Crinoidea comes from the Greek word krinon, "a lily", and eidos, "form". They live both in shallow water and in depths as great as 6,000 meters. Sea lilies refer to the crinoids which, in their adult form, are...
from the Cretaceous
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
of Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. It was unusual among crinoids because it had no stalk, and probably floated above the seafloor. It lived in the Western Interior Seaway
Western Interior Seaway
The Western Interior Seaway, also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, and the North American Inland Sea, was a huge inland sea that split the continent of North America into two halves, Laramidia and Appalachia, during most of the mid- and late-Cretaceous Period...
. This crinoid was a colonial animal with ten long arms each that it used to capture prey.
Sources
- Fossils (Smithsonian Handbooks) by David Ward (Page 174)
- "Notes on Uintacrinus socialis Grinnell" http://www.oceansofkansas.com/Uintacrinus.html