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Earth Sciences professor names fossil for ������˾��

Mark Wilson, the Lewis M. and Marian Senter Nixon Professor of Natural Sciences in the Department of Earth Sciences at ������˾��, and his colleague Bill Ausich, a professor at The Ohio State University, recently named a fossil after the College. The holotype, or defining example of the newly-named Cactocrinus��woosterensis, is a 350-million-year-old crinoid fossil that was first found decades ago by ������˾�� faculty and students in the abandoned ������˾�� Medal Brick and Tile Quarry. They donated it to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, where Wilson and Ausich discovered it in the collections.

Cactocrinus��woosterensis is an echinoderm, a marine group which also contains sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. �Crinoids are commonly called �sea lilies� because they have long stems rooted in the sea bottom with a flower-like crown of numerous arms surrounding the main body at the other end,� Wilson said. �They feed by filtering nutrients from the seawater with these arms. Crinoids are common in some parts of the fossil record and are still alive today.�

Cactocrinus��woosterensis

Wilson and Ausich recently published a ��about the fossil and their decision to name it after ������˾��. �The species name recognizes ������˾�� in ������˾��, Ohio, for its decades of support of paleontological research,� they wrote. �The holotype of��Cactocrinus��woosterensis and many other specimens in this fauna were collected by professors and students from the Department of Geology at ������˾��.� The names of those who originally discovered it were not recorded.

Cactocrinus��woosterensis is a new species of crinoid, which means it was not previously described in scientific literature. �It gives us more information about the evolution and ecology of this fascinating group,� Wilson said. �The specimen is also preserved unusually well for a crinoid in a shale deposit, where they are usually highly fragmented.�

Wilson said that finding this significant specimen in the museum�s collections that was originally discovered by ������˾�� faculty and students demonstrates two things: �One, the importance of fieldwork for discovering and documenting new scientific information, and two, the critical role museums play in preserving specimens for scientific study.�

Posted in News on May 11, 2023.