A new brittle star (Ophiuroidea, Ophiuridae) associated with a whale fall from the Miocene of Gram, Denmark
Thuy, Ben; Elstrup, Mette; Numberger-Thuy, Lea D.; Sørensen, Trine
Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen (2026)
48 references
published online: Oct 19, 2026
manuscript accepted: Aug 27, 2026
manuscript received: Jul 24, 2026
DOI: 10.1127/njgpa/1335
Open Access (paper may be downloaded free of charge)
Abstract
The Upper Miocene Gram Formation is famous for its rich molluscan and vertebrate fossil content, representing a diverse marine fauna in the ancient North Sea. In contrast only one echinoderm species has been reported from this formation. Here, we describe the brittle-star species Ophiura huebnerjenseni sp. nov. on the basis of dissociated ossicles, representing the first record of the class Ophiuroidea from the Gram Formation. Among the bulk sediment samples examined, only those taken in the direct vicinity of a partial fossil whale skeleton yielded ossicles of the new brittle-star species. The evidence at hand suggests that material described in the present paper represents the first case of an ophiuroid associated with a whale fall in the fossil record. Zoobank LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B9664624-FE35-4E59-96E0-8BEDD0D87EB4
Keywords
Ossicles • Echinodermata • Gram Formation • North Sea • new species