Ctenocystoidea: New Class of Primitive Echinoderms

The oldest known "carpoids" of the echinoderm subphylum Homalozoa have been discovered in lower Middle Cambrian rocks of northern Utah. They were free-living benthonic animals characterized by a unique ctenoid feeding apparatus and flattened flexible theca with near bilateral symmetry. A new class, Ctenocystoidea, is proposed to include the new genus and new species, Ctenocystis utahensis.