The class Somasteroidea and its significance among early Asterozoa (Echinodermata)

This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Blake, Daniel B., Lefebvre, Bertrand (2025): The class Somasteroidea and its significance among early Asterozoa (Echinodermata). Comptes Rendus Palevol 24 (23): 449-487, DOI: 10.5852/cr-palevol2025v24a23, URL: doi.org/10.5852/cr-palevol2025v24a23 ABSTRACT Many specimens of the echinoderm subphylum Asterozoa from the Mediterranean Gondwanan Ordovician of France and Morocco have been compiled from many collections, the composite including representation of all four asterozoan classes.

While providing a basis for survey of early asterozoan history, the large fauna remains geographically and environmentally localized, and therefore it does not depict Ordovician Asterozoa globally. Overall uniformity of expression has led to widespread agreement on the composition of the subphylum Asterozoa; however, consensus has not been reached on recognition of a precursor (or sister-group) that can clearly advance interpretation of early asterozoan history, a vacancy contributing to differing evaluations in the literature.