Ophiura wetherelli
Ophiura wetherelli
Summary
Ophiura wetherelli was a brittle star with a central disc and five highly flexible arms built from many small calcitic ossicles. By comparison with living Ophiura, it was a mobile animal of the sea floor, probably exploiting detritus, suspended or deposited particles and small benthic food items rather than living as a fixed suspension feeder.
London Clay records commonly consist of lateral arm plates and other disarticulated ossicles; the Highgate fauna, for example, records the species from lateral arm plates. This means our picture of the animal comes from reconstructing many tiny skeletal pieces rather than from complete specimens.
Quick Identification
Look for: small lateral arm plates from a brittle star, often with a curved outer surface and a row of distinct arm-spine articulations; compare well-preserved plates under magnification because isolated worn ossicles are not securely identifiable by overall shape alone.
Diagnostic Features
- Lateral arm plates show the characteristic Ophiura architecture and distinct spine articulations.
- Plate outline is proportionally different from Ophiura bognoriensis in comparative material.
- External surface bears fine stereom texture rather than heavy echinoid tuberculation.
- Articulations occur in a regular distal series associated with arm spines.
- Secure identification requires preserved plate margins and articulation details; featureless fragments are indeterminate ophiuroid material.
Fossil Details
Similar Species
Recorded Fossil Sites
No fossil-site occurrences have yet been recorded for this species.
References
- Forbes, E. (1852). Monograph of the Echinodermata of the British Tertiaries. Palaeontographical Society Monograph View reference
- Tracey, S.; Donovan, S. K.; Clements, D.; Jeffery, P.; Cooper, J.; Rye, P.; Hensley, C. (2002). Temporary exposures of the Eocene London Clay Formation at Highgate, north London: rediscovery of a fossiliferous horizon ‘lost’ since the nineteenth century. Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, 113(4), 319–331 View reference