A FRESH NEW START: REVIEWING ECHINODERMS’ FOSSIL RECORD IN THE NATIONAL PALEONTOLOGICAL COLLECTION.

1. A FRESH NEW START: REVIEWING
ECHINODERMS’ FOSSIL RECORD IN THE
MEXICAN NATIONAL
PALEONTOLOGICAL COLLECTION
A. MARTÍNEZ-MELO, L. VILLIER, V. ROMERO-MAYEN, AND J. ALVARADO-ORTEGA
UMR CNRS CR2P-7207, CENTRE DE RECHERCHE EN PALÉONTOLOGIE- PARIS, MUSÉUM NATIONAL D’HISTOIRE
NATURELLE AND SORBONNE UNIVERSITÉ, PARIS, FRANCE.
DEPARTAMENTO DE PALEONTOLOGÍA, INSTITUTO DE GEOLOGÍA, UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE
MÉXICO, MEXICO CITY, MEXICO.
*A.MTZ.MELO@GMAIL.COM

2. Fossil Record in
Mexico
To update the state of knowledge of
the echinoderms of the National
Collection of Paleontology

3. National Collection
of Paleontology,
Institute of Geology,
UNAM

4. Pioneers
Founder of the Hydrobiology Laboratory of the Institute of
Biology, today the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology
of the UNAM, as well as the National Collection of
Echinoderms, named after her.
Dra. Ma. Elena Caso (1915 – 1991)
IGeol-UNAM
Dra. Blanca Buitrón

5. Timeline
* Publications that deposited specimens in the National
Collection of Paleontology.

6. UNIPALEO & DGRU-UNAM
1.- Databases
2.- Physical reviesion (specimens
and labels)
3.- Taxonomic Update
4.- Stratigraphy
5.- New updated database
METHOD

7. Taxonomy
385 occurrences
107 spp: 19 Crinoidea, 1
Asteroidea, 1 Ophiuroidea, 84
Echinoidea, and 2
Holothuroidea.
27 taxonomic updates.

8. Localities
69 locations: 52 assigned to 31 formations / units, 17 not assigned.
Cretaceous: 14 formations / units and 6 localities.
San Juan Raya (Puebla) the most diverse: 12 species of Echinoidea.

9. Aranguthy family.
Site museum. Tepexi de Rodríguez (Puebla).
Lagerstätten.
Updated reports.
More than echinoids and crinoids.
Tlayúa

10. Ophiuroidea
Ophiactis applegatei, Martín-Medrano, Thuy & García-Barrera, 2009.

11. Asteroidea
Order Paxillosida
Family Astropectinidae
Order Spinulosida
Family Echinasteridae
Order Valvatida
Family Asterinidae
Family Goniasteridae
Family Ophidiasteridae

12. Asteroidea Different specimens

13. Holothuroidea
Parapsolus tlayuensis Applegate, Buitrón-Sánchez, Solís-Marıín & Laguarda-Figueras, 2009.
Paleopentacta alencasterae Applegate, Buitrón-Sánchez, Solís-Marıín & Laguarda-Figueras, 2009.

14. Salenioida:
Saleniidae:
Heterosalenia
• Marginal periproct touching the
ocular plate I.
• Perforated tubercles.
• Trigeminated or unigeminated
plates.

15. Why to revise
echinoderms' fossil
record?

16. Paleobiogeography
and centers of
dispersion

17. Heterosalenia
Heterosalenia n. sp? H. tlaxiacensis
The genus can be separated into 2 groups: Jurassic
(with unigeminate plates) and Cretaceous (with
trigeminate plates). "They could be separated in two
genera" (Smith & Kroh, 2009).

18. Heterosalenia
MARTÍNEZ-MELO, GUERRERO, GALVÁN-VILLA Y ALVARADO-ORTEGA EN PREP.

19. San Ignacio Fm (Miocene).
Vaquerosella perrillatae.
Baja
California Sur

20. Dating

21. Phylogeny of Encope genus
Coppard & Lessios, 2017

22. Phylogeny of
Encope genus
O'Dea
et
al.,
2016

23. Paleoenvironments

24. Campanian, Angostura
Formation.
Shallow environments with
warm waters.
Petaloids reaching the
ambitus.
TZIMOL,
CHIAPAS
Hemiaster sp.

25. What's next?
Update the Taxonomy in the database but keeping the history of changes.
Continue the taxonomic study.
New types of projects.
What is the phylogenetic role of this record?
National Collection of Paleontology (CNP) is the most important but it is not the
only one.
Gather the registry in Mexico.

26. Acknowledgements
To all the people who have created and curated the
collection of the National Paleontology Collection,
IGeol-UNAM.

27. THANK YOU
Dr. Alejandra Martínez Melo
a.mtz.melo@gmail.com
Red Mexicana de Equinodermos
@REMEQoficial
REMEQoficial@gmail.com