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Name:
Unidentified Edrioasteroids
Age: Ordovician
Formation: Unknown
Location: Iowa
Size: Edrios are 1.1" and 1.2" across.
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Here is an interesting specimen of Ordovician edrioasteroids from Iowa. This piece was recently obtained from an old collection. One small pocket of these echinoderms was found in Iowa years ago, and, as far as we know, none have been found since. Edrioasteroids were primitive echinoderms which consisted of a flexible theca composed of numerous polygonal plates. In this specimen, the large edrioasteroids have attached themselves to brachiopods. This is probably not a symbiotic relationship, nor were the brachiopods under attack. The aragonitic/calcitic shell of the brachiopod merely provided a hard substrate for the echinoderm to rest upon. The small, horizontally-arranged plates along the rim of the edrios is well displayed. Most of the inner plates are present, also. The gray color of the fossils contrasts nicely with the yellowish matrix. The fossils are well presented on the somewhat rounded plate. This is a good specimen of these strange echinoderms from an unusual location.
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