Conchopeltis alternata Walcott, 1876 - Description from Oliver, 1984 Conchopeltis alternata Walcott, 1875, p. 93; Walcott, 1879, p. 93; Miller, 1889, p. 400; Ulrich and Scofield, 1897, p. 823, fig. 2; Knight, 1937, p. 186, pl. 29, fig. 1-5; Glaessner, 1971, p. 9; Oliver, 1984, p. 141, pl. 1, fig. 1-7. Description: Has low pyramidal form and a very thin test of unknown composition. In most specimens four lobes give a “square” outline and may suggest at first glance a fourfold radial symmetry. The lobes are separated by grooves that radiate from the apex, and each lobe is divided into two equal parts by shallower grooves. In addition, the surface bears fine radiating striae ad concentric growth lines. Specimens are 5 to 6 cm in diameter and 1 to 1.6 cm high, they are very low pyramids. In a specimen from the New York State Museum what appear to be tentacles are found extending away from the margin. With this evidence and the presence of bilateral symmetry Oliver (1984) believes Conchopeltis to be a medusoid that is possibly of cnidarian (corals, anemones, jellyfish, etc.) descent.
|
||||||||||||||||
MCZ 107280: Holotype, 57mm wide |
MCZ 107281: Paratype, 105mm wide |
MCZ 102969: 46mm wide |
||||||||||||||
MCZ 102970: 26mm long |
MCZ 107282: Unfigured Paratype, 48mm wide | MCZ 107283: Unfigured Paratype, 47.5mm wide |
||||||||||||||
MCZ 107284: Paratype, 53.5mm wide |
MCZ 107285: Unfigured Paratype, 37mm long |
MCZ 107286: Paratype, 74mm long |
||||||||||||||
| << Return to Top | ||||||||||||||||
© 2004 President and Fellows of Harvard College |
||||||||||||||||