Monstrocrinus
Monstrocrinus is an extinct genus of stalked crinoid from the Lower to Middle Devonian, found in Brazil, Europe and, ambiguously, Algeria. It is most notable for the flattened spine structures that attach to its bowl-like calyx plates, at the base of its theca.

Published by Bohatý, J., Poschmann, M. J., Müller, P., & Ausich, W. I. · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.
On record
Recorded, not inferred- Sits inside
- RhodocrinitidaePBDB
- Diet
- suspension feederPBDB, for Diplobathrida
- Life habit
- upper-level epifaunalPBDB, for Diplobathrida
- Motility
- stationary, attachedPBDB, for Diplobathrida
- Vision
- blindPBDB, for Crinoidea
- Environment
- marinePBDB, for Echinodermata
Time the record covers
At most 21 million years on record.
Every occurrence read is dated to somewhere between 410.62 Mya and 390.5 Mya, and nothing in the dating separates them, so that window is what the record shows rather than a span.
6 occurrences of Monstrocrinus on record, most of them in the Devonian. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.
When
6 occurrences- Devonian100%
These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.
Found in
4 formations
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The named rock units Monstrocrinus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed.
Monstrocrinus and its relatives
DevonianWhere Monstrocrinus and its relatives were recorded in the Devonian.
Found in the same rock
7 taxa- Arduspirifer1 site
- Arthroacantha1 site
- Asteropyge (Comura)1 site
- Atrypa1 site
- Icriodus1 site
- Orthocrinus1 site
- Polygnathus costatus1 site
The Paleobiology Database records 5 sites for Monstrocrinus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too.
This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.
Entered from
2 references- Putting a crinoid on a stalk: new evidence on the Devonian diplobathrid camerate Monstrocrinus5
- The Devonian of Celtiberia (Spain) and Devonian paleogeography of SW Europe1
Each of the 6 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.
Media and terms
Media content1
Picture of Monstrocrinus
- Source
- Wikipedia/Commons
- Credit
- Published by Bohatý, J., Poschmann, M. J., Müller, P., & Ausich, W. I.
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0
- Commercial use
- the licence allows it
No 3D scan of Monstrocrinus was found in Sketchfab.
Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.
The description on this site
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 4.0
This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.
Keep going
What may have been alongside itRhodocrinitidae through timeFormations of the DevonianThe world it lived on
Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Schmidt 1942