PhD: Exceptionally Preserved Echinoderms of the Herefordshire Lagerstatte

Echinoderms, (starfish, sea-lillies, sea-urchins etc.) are common fossils, but are normally preserved disarticulated. Their soft-tissues are almost never preserved. However many Palaeozoic echinoderms represent stem-forms to modern groups; a full understanding of their anatomy is important in ongoing attempts to construct robust phylogenetic frameworks for the phylum. The Herefordshire Lagerstätte preserves a Silurian marine invertebrate fauna in exquisite 3D anatomical detail. To date, only a single starfish has been reconstructed from this fauna, although this provided unprecedented anatomical detail, preserving tube-feet, a peristomial membrane, and internal anatomy. Several other echinoderm species are present, including a species of the enigmatic Ophiocistoidea, a group which may represent the sister-taxon to sea-cucumbers and sea-urchins but is poorly known in detail. This PhD will reconstruct and analyse the Herefordshire echinoderm fauna (through serial-grinding and computer-based reconstruction) and investigate its evolutionary significance.