FINE FOSSIL CRINOID PLATE. ...

Description

FINE FOSSIL CRINOID PLATE
Several species
Carboniferous, Mississippian epoch, Osagean stage
Edwardsville Farm, Crawfordville, Montgomery County, Indiana, USA
The crinoid, known also as the sea lily or feather star, is one of the world's so-called "living fossils", counting amongst their distant relatives the starfish, brittle star and sea urchin. They are filter feeders, grabbing microscopic particles on which to feed as great forests of them sway back and forth on the ocean floor. This fine example is from the famed Crawfordsville crinoid beds and was prepared in situ by master preparator Tom Witherspoon, whose work can be found in most of the major Natural History Museums across the world, including the Smithsonian and the Field Museum of Chicago. Mr. Witherspoon's skill is immediately evident in the superb three-dimensionality of this natural assemblage and the exquisitely delicate detail of the fossils themselves, which include the stems and crowns of eight separate specimens representing five different species, in a rhomboid matrix 17 x 7¼ inches. Each specimen is numbered on the reverse to correspond to a species identification chart.

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