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Science 6 May 1988:
Vol. 240. no. 4853, pp. 796 - 798
DOI: 10.1126/science.240.4853.796
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Articles

Middle Mississippian Blastoid Extinction Event

WILLIAM I. AUSICH 1, DAVID L. MEYER 2, and JOHNNY A. WATERS 3

1 Department of Geology and Mineralogy, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210.
2 Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221.
3 Department of Geology, West Georgia College, Carrollton, GA 30117. 2 November 1987; accepted 10 March 1988

The Middle Mississippian blastoid (Phylum Echinodermata) extinction event (about 340 million years ago) was a rapid, habitat-specific extinction. Blastoids became rare or absent in shallow-water environments after the extinction, and this change was probably synchronous worldwide. Onshore-offshore habitat shifts have been recognized as an important historical trend among marine benthos. Unlike trends exhibited by other groups, blastoids appear to have repopulated shallow-water habitats after a period of diminished diversity and abundance.

Submitted on November 2, 1987
Accepted on March 10, 1988


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
CRINOIDS FROM THE MULDRAUGH MEMBER OF THE BORDEN FORMATION IN NORTH-CENTRAL KENTUCKY (ECHINODERMATA, LOWER MISSISSIPPIAN).
(2000)
Journal of Paleontology 74, 1072-1082
The Palaeobiogeography of the Blastoidea (Echinodermata).
J. A. Waters (1990)
Geological Society, London, Memoirs 12, 339-352
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