A new Late Cretaceous (Campanian) species of the micrasterid echinoid genus Cyclaster with unique buccal feeding structures from the Hannover area, northern Germany

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Abstract
A new species of the irregular echinoid genus Cyclaster, C. pectiformis, is erected to accommodate a single, small-sized, fairly well-preserved test from an unspecified level within the lower upper Campanian (probably stobaei/basiplana Zone or vulgaris/basiplana Zone) as exposed at the Heidelberg Materials/Teutonia I quarry at Hannover-Misburg (Lehrte West Syncline, Lower Saxony Basin, northern Germany). The prime feature that distinguishes this new taxon from its congeners are the conspicuous, comb-shaped proximal margins of interambulacral plates 2.1 and 3.1. Petals are short, the frontal ambulacrum is flush with the test, sternal plates 5.b.2 and 5.a.2 are subequal, being divided by an oblique suture and the labral plate is long, slender and flask shaped. The peripetalous fasciole is rudimentary, while the subanal one is well developed. The comb-shaped plates guarding the anterior margin of the peristome are unique among the Spatangoida and are interpreted as structures supporting food intake by scraping off mucus and mud from the tips of the buccal podia.

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