Rare Unknown Species of Fossil Starfish with Brittlestar

This is an unknown/undescribed species of starfish coming from the famous Cozy Dell Formation, not too far inland in Ventura County California. In twenty years of collecting the site, this is the only starfish of this species that I have found. This is a positive and negative together, and note that the negative half contains a fine little brittle star. The negative has a good, small brittlestar as well.

Generally, starfish are relatively uncommon in the fossil record owing to the fragility of the creature’s body. Starfish are already difficult to find at Cozy Dell, and specimens with this state of detailed preservation are uncommon. The Ophiuroids are known from the Late Ordovician to the modern times, with some 1400 extant species. In comparison, there are 18 known species from the Cretaceous. There have been only 14 species of ophiuroids described from the Tertiary including five from the Eocene. The Eocene ophiuroid species have been described from Belgium, England, Venezuela, the Antarctic Peninsula, and New Jersey.