This is a crinoid cup. Prof. Gary Webster of Washington State University, Pullman, Washington has identified it as a new species, Dicromyocrinus beldenensis. This specimen has been donated to the Denver Museum of Natural History. It has been designated as the paratype of the species and is shown in Figures 4.31 and 4.32 of Webster and Houck, 1998, Journal of Paleontology, vol. 72, p. 1054. The only other known example of this species, the holotype, is a cup of a juvenile, found by Karen Houck in the Belden Formation of Eagle County, Colorado, and also figured in that article.
Back to Itano family home page
Back to Fossil home page