Pentremites

Pentremites Temporal range: Early Carboniferous PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
File:Pentremites Glen Dean Fm KY.jpg
Pentremites godoni from the Lower Carboniferous of Illinois.
Conservation status
Extinct (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Echinodermata
Subphylum:	Blastozoa
Class:	Blastoidea
Order:	Spiraculata
Family:	Pentremitidae
Genus:	Pentremites
Species
Pentremites aridus Webster and Lane 1970 Pentremites conoideus Hall 1856 Pentremites cristalensis Macurder 1964 Pentremites elongatus Shumard 1855 Pentremites godoni Pentremites kirki Hambach 1903 Pentremites pentremites Hernon 1935 Pentremites pyriformis Pentremites rusticus Hambach 1903 Pentremites sulcatus Roemer 1851

Pentremites is an extinct genus of blastoid echinoderm belonging to the family Pentremitidae.

Description

These echinoderms averaged a height of about 11 centimetres (4.3 in)but occasionally ranged up to about 3 times that size. They were related to the crinoids or sea lilies, living on the sea floor attached by a stalk. They trapped food floating in the currents by means of tentacle-like appendages.

Pentremites species lived in the early to middle Carboniferous, from 360.7 to 314.6 Ma. Its fossils are known from North America.

References

• Fossils (Smithsonian Handbooks) by David Ward (Page 190)