A new species of Doraster (Echinodermata: Asteroidea) from the lower Miocene of central Japan: implications for its enigmatic paleobiogeography

作者：Kato Moe^*; Oji Tatsuo

来源：Paleontological Research, 2013, 17(4): 330-334.

DOI：10.2517/1342-8144-17.4.330

• Asteroidea
• Doraster
• Japan
• Miocene
• Paleobiogeography

A new species of well preserved zoroasterid asteroid was discovered from the lower Miocene Yamami Formation (approx. 16 Ma), Morozaki Group in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan. The specimens possess a small disc and long arms, and show clear stellate ossicles on the aboral disc surface, clearly supporting their placement within the genus Doraster. Currently Doraster is widely distributed in bathyal depths in the western Atlantic, represented only by one modern species, D. constellatus. The new discovery of fossil Doraster species not only extends the stratigraphic range of this genus but also suggests it was widely distributed in the Pacific before the closure of the Isthmus of Panama.

• 出版日期2013-10-1