Upper Cretaceous echinoids from James Ross Basin, Antarctica

New palaeontological collections made from Upper Cretaceous strata exposed within the James RossBasin, Antarctica, include ten echinoid species. Five species are described for the first time from Antarctica, while four others, previously published by Lambert in 1910, are revised according to the new data. The described echinoids comprise two new species, Huttonechinus antarctica nov. sp. and Nordenskjoeldaster? australis nov. sp., specimens closely related to an European spatangoid, Micraster aff. regularis, and three taxa that cannot be named at the specific level owing to poor preservation. In total, the fauna comprises three species of regular echinoids, five holasteroids, and two spatangoids. The ten taxa range in age from Santonian to Early Maastrichtian. The richest faunas are those associated with the prolific Gunnarites antarcticus ammonite assemblage. Several forms show affinities with Australia, New Zealand, south-east Africa and South America. There are indications that this is an essentially deep shelf echinoid fauna.

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